Leonard

When Leonard finally came to California He was twenty-one years old as I recall He loved to write a song and pick the guitar And he came to hang a gold one on the wall The town in which he lived is not important But you'll know which town I mean by the time I'm through He soon became a famous entertainer But Leonard was a name he never used He was on his way to having what he wanted Just about as close as one could be Hey, once he even followed Elvis Presley And he wrote a lot of country songs for me But he laid it all aside to follow Jesus For years he chose to let his music go But preaching wasn't really meant for Leonard But how in the hell was Leonard supposed to know Well, life began to twist its way around him And I wondered how he carried such a load He came back again to try his luck in music And lost his wife and family on the road After that he seemed to bog down even deeper And I saw what booze and pills could really do And I wondered if I'd ever see him sober But I forgot about a friend that Leonard knew Well, Leonard gave me lots of inspiration He helped teach me how to write a country song And he even brought around a bag of groceries Hey, back before Muskogee came along Really I'm not trying to hide his show name Or the town in which this episode began Somehow I had to write a song for old Tommy If just to see the smilin' faces in the band When Leonard finally came to California He was twenty-one years old as I recall And he loved to write a song and pick the guitar And he came to hang a gold one on the wall