Merle Haggard
Old Doc Brown
[Intro - Spoken]
Let me tell you bout a song called "Doc Brown" that needs no introduction
[Verse]
He was just an old country doctor in a little Kentucky town
Fame and fortune had passed him by, though we never saw him frown
As day by day in his kindly way, he'd serve us one and all
Many a patient forgot to pay although Doc's fees were small
Though he needed his dimes and there were times that he'd receive a fee
He'd pass it onto some poor soul that needed it more than he
He had to sell his furniture 'cause he couldn't pay his office rent
So to a dusty room over a livery stable, Doc Brown and his satchel went
And on the hitching post on the curb below to advertise his wares
He nailed a little sign that read "Doc Brown has moved upstairs"
Then one day, he didn't answer when they knocked upon his door
Old Doc Brown was lying down, but his soul was no more
They found him there in that old black suit, on his face was a smile of content
But all the money they could find on him was just a quarter and a copper cent
So they opened up his ledger, what they saw gave their hearts a pull
For beside each debtor's name, old Doc had written these words "Paid In Full"
Old Doc should've had a funeral fine enough for king
It was a ghastly joke that the whole town was broke and no one could give a thing
Ah except old Curly Jones, an undertaker, he did mighty well
He donated an old iron casket that he had never been able to sell
And that funeral procession, well, it wasn't much for grace and pomp and the style
But those wagon loads of mourners, they stretched out for more than a mile
We wanted to give him a monument, we kind of figured we owed him one
Because he made our town a better place for all the good he'd done
So we pulled up that old hitching post where Doc had nailed his sign
We painted it white and to all of us it certainly did look fine
Now the rains and snows have washed away our white trimming paint
And there ain't nothing left but Doc's own sign and that's getting kind of faint
But you can still see that old hitching post, as if in answer to our prayers
Mutely telling the whole wide world that Doc Brown has moved upstairs