Hillbilly Singer

Hillbilly Singer
by Joel Mabus ©2015

It was late one night at a roadhouse saloon
The band coming off of the stage
With my favorite hillbilly singer
Still good but showing his age

I said, I got all of your records
And if you don’t mind me bending your ear
I’d like to know what you’re drinking
He said, you can buy me a beer

I asked him what keeps you going
You sing your heart out, night after night
Well, he took a long drink and then he answered
He said, Son, I’ll be telling you right -- he said

Sometimes you sing for the money
And sometimes you sing for the show
Sometimes you sing for a pretty young thing
With a big smile in the front row

Sometimes you sing cause you’re lonesome
And you need that crowd and the cheers
Sometimes you sing for your supper
And sometimes that’s just for the beers

And sometimes you sing for the memory
Of a love gone awfully wrong
Yeah sometimes you sing for the money
And sometimes you sing for the song

Well, I asked him where next he was headed
He said, Son, I don’t rightly know
Some joint a whole lot like this one
Just a ways further down the road
He said, the boys in the band handle business
And they take me along for the ride
Just a wore-out hillbilly singer
Then he finished his beer and he smiled

He wrote me his name on a napkin
And he left with a tip of the hat
And here it is all these years later
I’m still remembering that

On those nights when nobody listens
And the guitar just don’t want to play
I remember that hillbilly singer
And the things that he had to say

‘Cause sometimes you sing for the money
Sometimes you sing for the show
Sometimes you sing for the pretty young thing
With a big smile in the front row

Sometimes you sing cause you’re lonesome
And you need that crowd and the cheers
Sometimes you sing for your supper
And sometimes it’s just for the beers

And sometimes you sing for the memory
Of a love gone awfully wrong
Yeah sometimes you sing for the money
And sometimes you sing for the song

Yeah sometimes you sing for the money
And sometimes it’s all for a song