Paul Maurice Revear Lyrics

I knew a traveling man named Paul Maurice Revere

I thought he was a friend, but then he wasn't here

I bet him twenty dollars that he could not sit still

He rode right out of town and then he put me in his will

A rolling stone may gather no moss

There must be a profit to offset this loss

Can't be two places without being mad

But staying in one wasn't meant for this lad

He never held a job. He lived off you and me

He had no prize possessions, no banjo on his knee

He carried a pen and paper, a knapsack and a beer

He witnessed wealth and poverty, suspicion, greed, and fear

He traveled 'cross a country. He traveled 'cross a world

He never gave a thought to how his hair was curled

He tasted from the gutter, and he ate off china plates

And he never paid attention to the tax or interest rates

Alone, up in the mountains, in a cave without a fire

He stared through coal black walls, and he watched a pagan choir

The beauty and deception made him stop and shed a tear

He had so much to share, but he had nobody near

He lives now in Boston, with a wife and with a child

He sits upon the hearth, while his memory runs wild

I phoned him up today, just to catch up on his dreams

And he told me that one's life is never quite the way it seems

I knew a traveling man named Paul Maurice Revere

I thought he was a friend, but then he wasn't here

I bet him twenty dollars that he could not sit still

He rode right out of town and then he put me in his will