Lyrics
Now Tommy tall and slender
Had a stern and solemn face
An earnest lay professor
Out of time and out of place
His home a grassy corner
In a rusting caravan
An earthly seat of learning
For an educated man
Somewhere in my scholarship
He took me under his wing
Granting me the schooling
Of a raw apprentice king
His library full of treasures
All of life since it began
To lend me his kind knowledge
As an educated man
He talked of stars and planets
And of wonders of the brain
"Be curious, be questioning"
Was ever his refrain
"Exercise your mind," he'd say
"Read everything you can
A word is like a jewel
To an educated man"
One such swinging day from school
The caravan was bare
Without a word he'd slipped away
For challenges elsewhere
With spinning eyes I shambled off
Then angrily I ran
Betrayed by one I valued
As an educated man
"A word is like a jewel," he'd said
"Read everything you can
Where wonder lies there never dies
An educated man"
I bustled in still biting hard
Pretending not to cry
And on the kitchen table
Reaching up towards the sky
There lay a pile of heavy books
Encased in a leather band
A gift beyond all measure
From the educated man
Beside it lay a scribbled note
In forward gold moon blue
I picked it up, it merely said
"The rest is up to you"
I turned the covers, scanned the page
The pilgrimage began
Along the paths and byways
Of an educated man
"A word is like a jewel," he'd said
"Read everything you can
Where wonder lies there never dies
An educated man"