Once I knew a girl in the hard hard times She made me a shirt out of fives and dimes Now she's gone but when I wear it she crosses my mind And if the best is for the best then the best is unkind

I realized that Illinois was more than I could stand They say working's best cause poverty is hell on a man Now I ride a lazy river through the Mississippi fan And if the best is for the best then the best can be damned

I spent a few years on the Queen of Spain She was a leaky little boat that went up in flames When the boiler blew some people started naming names But if the best is for the best I guess the best is to blame

I spent a few more as the Cairo Crown A heavyweight wrestler in the Midwest towns But I was lonesome for a girl who could pin me down They say the best is for the best but that's not what I've found

Now I listen to my sweetheart and I listen to my thirst I don't spend time listening to other people's words Sometimes they're right most times the reverse They say the best is for the best when the best's for the worse

Once I knew a girl in the hard hard times She made me a shirt out of fives and dimes Now she's gone but when I wear it she crosses my mind And if the best is for the best then the best is unkind