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


[Pre-Chorus]
Bm
You can fool all the jokers with diamonds
        C#m
You can playboy ramblin' roots
        D
You can lie like a penny on the CNO line
        E
But the good Lord knows the truth


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


[Verse 2]
A                       Bm
It was Gainsboro at the Glow Worm Bar
        D                A
We were passin' around a jug and a guitar
A                        Bm
Virgil picked it like an Opry star
           D              A
I mean the boy was on fire
A                                    Bm
I said, "Hey Virgil Lee, where'd you get that stuff?"
         D                             A
He said, "I don't know, I guess I made it up?"
A                 Bm
Well sometimes an empty cup
     D        A
Just overflows


[Pre-Chorus]
Bm                                     C#m
And all that summer was fire and rain
                                      D
Virgil Lee started nursin' the pain

'Til every one of them songs he would play
    E
Was twisted, falling down


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


[Verse 3]
A                   Bm
Laid him out in his overalls
                D                    A
'Cause when you get too big for your breeches well that's all
A                       Bm
Hung his fiddle and his flat top guitar
D                     A
Up in the high school gym
A      Bm
Nobody remembers his name
    D              A
And I can't say anyone's to blame
A                            Bm
One of these times you gotta hear him play
           D                    A
He was the greatest that's ever been


[Pre-Chorus]
Bm
You can fool all the jokers with diamonds
        C#m
You can playboy ramblin' roots
        D
You can lie like a penny on the CNO line
        E
But the good Lord knows the truth


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