Old Folks - Lou Rawls

Everyone knows him as old folks

Like the seasons he comes and he’ll go

Just as free as a bird and as good as his word

That’s why everybody loves him so

Always leaving his spoon in his coffee

Tucks his napkin up under his chin

And his own corn cob pipe is so mellow, hits right

But you needn’t be ashamed of him

In the evenings after supper

What stories he tells

How he held his speech at Gettysburg for Lincoln that day

You know I know that one so well

One thing we don’t know about old folks

Did he fight for the blue or the gray?

But he’s so democratic and so diplomatic

We always let him have his way

In the evenings after supper

What stories he tells

How he held his speech at Gettysburg for Lincoln that day

Yes, I know that one so well

Some day there will be no more old folks

What a lonely old world this will be

Children’s voices at play will be still fonding

The day they take old folks away