Virgil Lee was a mighty man
He could outrun the L&N
Caught a wild cat and made him his friend
He was a flat woods boy
Caught his learnin' from a runnin' brook
Taught him go with the flow and don't get hooked
But Virgil Lee kindly mistook
The devil for a dear friend

You can fool all the jokers with diamonds
You can playboy ramblin' roots
You can lie like a penny on the CNO line
But the good Lord knows the truth

Just like a old hickory
Shadin' the porch of a house that's been torn down
There ain't nothin' that's left but the memory
And that long, tall, scraggily, bitter nut old hickory

It was Gainsboro at the Glow Worm Bar
We were passin' around a jug and a guitar
Virgil picked it like an Opry star
I mean the boy was on fire
I said, "Hey Virgil Lee, where'd you get that stuff?"
He said, "I don't know, I guess I made it up?"
Well sometimes an empty cup
Just overflows

And all that summer was fire and rain
Virgil Lee started nursin' the pain
'Til every one of them songs he would play
Was twisted, falling down

Like a old hickory
Shadin' the porch of a house that's been torn down
There ain't nothin' that's left but the memory
And that long, tall, scraggily, bitter nut old hickory

Laid him out in his overalls
'Cause when you get too big for your breeches well that's all
Hung his fiddle and his flat top guitar
Up in the high school gym
Nobody remembers his name
And I can't say anyone's to blame
One of these times you gotta hear him play
He was the greatest that's ever been

You can fool all the jokers with diamonds
You can playboy ramblin' roots
You can lie like a penny on the CNO line
But the good Lord knows the truth

Just like a old hickory
Shadin' the porch of a house that's been torn down
There ain't nothin' that's left but the memory
And that long, tall, scraggily, bitter nut
Old hickory
Shadin' the porch of a house that's been torn down
There ain't nothin' that's left but the memory
And that long, tall, scraggily, bitter nut old hickory
Oh and that long, tall, scraggily, bitter nut old hickory