Saturday, January 18, 2020

Johnny Cash - Don't Take Your Guns To Town

Monday is the date for the Derpapooloza in Richmond, as a big demonstration by gun owners against the Virginia government's draconian gun law proposals will turn the Statehouse square into Derp central.  The rest of us watch this unfold and can choose between the philosophy of Democritus who laughed at the folly of man, or that of Heraclitus who wept at the folly of man.

In any case, for those who plan to be there, Johnny Cash has some advice.



Don't Take Your Guns To Town (Songwriter: Johnny Cash)
A young cowboy named Billy Joe grew restless on the farm
A boy filled with wonderlust who really meant no harm
He changed his clothes and shined his boots
And combed his dark hair down
And his mother cried as he walked out

Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town

He laughed and kissed his mom
And said your Billy Joe's a man
I can shoot as quick and straight as anybody can
But I wouldn't shoot without a cause
I'd gun nobody down
But she cried again as he rode away

Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town

He sang a song as on he rode
His guns hung at his hips
He rode into a cattle town
A smile upon his lips
He stopped and walked into a bar
And laid his money down
But his mother's words echoed again

Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town

He drank his first strong liquor then to calm his shaking hand
And tried to tell himself at last, he had become a man
A dusty cowpoke at his side began to laugh him down
And he heard again his mothers words

Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town

Filled with rage then
Billy Joe reached for his gun to draw
But the stranger drew his gun and fired
Before he even saw
As Billy Joe fell to the floor
The crowd all gathered 'round
And wondered at his final words

Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town

2 comments:

Ed Bonderenka said...

I stopped going to biker bars with the guys I rode with because somebody always felt they had to start something.
And I've heard from a lot of guys going to VA or saying so.
And I wouldn't want to be standing near them.

HMS Defiant said...

We went to Case Western Reserve University today and found a young man sitting in the lobby of the building we needed to be in and he was holding a lamp in his hands as he sat there. "Diogenes", I asked, and while my wife got the reference I'm not sure he did.

I'll leave the few alone in VA on Monday. I'm sure there will be enough to strike sparks.