Curly and Tom ft. the Coal Biters Lyrics

Albert Martin

found hisself a woman

Debbie Bolin

Just a couple miles away

You could say they hit it off

Not just a matter of convenience

No it was love

And Albert said he knew

The first time he saw Debbie's face

Now Debbie and Albert

Went and got married

Took about a year

Circuit preacher done the job

They spent a couple nights camping a little time alone

And it was love

Albert said he knew

The first time he saw Debbie's face

Albert spent his days building

A cabin on his daddy's farm

Debbie spent her night's teaching Albert's family how to read

She learned 'em the Bible true religion

Put away their heathen gods their French popery

That's what she called Henri's Catholicism—Popery

And they were baptized in the creek

Circuit preacher done the job

It was love

And Albert said he knew

The first time he saw Debbie's face

Debbie and Albert

Waited till the end of the war

It took 'em five years

Before they had a child

He came out wily

Full head of curly black hair

They named him Albert Junior

But they just called him Curly

And in a year he had a brother named Tom

And Debbie never figured out

What went wrong

With Curly and Tom

They raised 'em on the farm

Plantin' and a plowin'

Hoein' and weedin'

Put a switch to their behinds

Debbie taught 'em how to read

She learned 'em the Bible

Baptized 'em in the creek

Circuit preacher didn't mind doin' the job

But it never seemed to take

For Curly and Tom

Whiskey and women

Gamblin' and cheatin'

Cussin' and fightin'

Skippin' out on chores

A grief to their momma

A shame to their daddy

Too big for whuppin'

Prayers unanswered

And Debbie never figured out what went wrong

With Curly and Tom

At the general store

Cheatin' at cards

Curly pulled a gun

He shot Eldridge Walker

The bullet didn't kill him

So Tom struck him with the blade from a plow

And Eldridge bled to death

Right there on the floor . . .

Debbie and Albert

They left with the boys

In the middle of the night

They fled to Colorado

Them boys never changed

Never worked an honest day

And Debbie always wondered

Sometimes she blamed herself

But she never figured

What went wrong

With Curly and Tom