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When Tommy left the bar room, not a Gatlin boy was standing He wasn’t holding nothing back, he let ’em have it all Twenty years of crawling was bottled up inside him When Tommy turned around they said, ‘Hey look! Old Yellow’s leaving’īut you could’ve heard a pin drop when Tommy stopped and locked the door One of them got up and met him halfway cross the floor “The Gatlin boys just laughed at him when he walked into the barroom He chose to fight and defend his girlfriend after she was raped. The Gatlin boys were going to get the wrath from Tommy’s fists, leaving them bloodied and battered on the barroom floor.
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This time, though, Tommy locked the bar’s front door. They started laughing at him because, well, he’s the “Coward of the County” who never fights back. He went looking for the Gatlin boys and found them in a bar. Tommy faces a decision: Fight or don’t fight. Son, you don’t have to fight to be a man'” Decision Time For Tommy: To Fight Or Not To Fight ‘Promise me, Son, not to do the things I’ve done He reached above the fireplace and took down his daddy’s pictureĪs his tears fell on his daddy’s face, he heard these words again The torn dress, the shattered look was more than he could stand Tommy opened up the door and saw Becky crying They took turns at Becky an’ there was three of them One day while he was working, the Gatlin boys came calling In her arms, he didn’t have to prove he was a man “There’s someone for everyone and Tommy’s love was Becky While he was at work, Becky is gang-raped by the Gatlin boys. One day, though, he had to face a harsh decision. He continued to honor his father’s wishes as he fell in love with a woman named Becky. Kenny Rogers Sings About Love and Trouble For Tommy Tommy gets the nickname “Coward of the County” because he does not fight. See, in certain circles, people look upon someone who does not fight back like a coward. Son, you don’t have to fight to be a man'” Now it won’t mean you’re weak if you turn the other cheek ‘Promise me, son, not to do the things I’ve done ‘Son, my life is over, but yours has just begun’ I still recall the final words my brother said to Tommy I looked after Tommy, ’cause he was my brother’s son He was only ten years old when his daddy died in prison His mama named him Tommy, but folks just called him Yellowīut something always told me, they were reading Tommy wrong
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He’d never stood one single time to prove the county wrong “Everyone considered him the coward of the county Here is how the song begins, along with its chorus. It’s almost a type of pacifist mindset that Tommy’s dying dad asks the young boy to take. Now the father, in one of his last wishes, asked Tommy to turn away when trouble came along. Tommy, as a 10-year-old boy, was around when his father died in prison. The push-pull of emotional strings tugging within the song tell quite a story through Kenny Rogers and his voice.