A Front Row Seat to Hear Ole Johnny Sing

Silverstein

Now you know some fellahs, they want fame and fortune

Yeah, and other fellahs they just wanna swing

But all I wanted all my life

Was a TV set and a truck and a wife

And a front row seat to hear ole Johnny sing.

Yeah the TV and the truck I got on credit.

And I got that girl with a little old Woolworth ring

And life was warm and life was sweet

But still, it was kinda incomplete

Without a front row seat to hear ole Johnny sing.

Hey, John you walk the line,

Do "Deelia" one more time

And when you do them Cottonfields

You warm this heart of mine.

So, one day I thought, Hey, I'm gonna do it!

(That's what I said)

So, I mortgaged the farm and pawned her wedding ring.

I sold the gold tooth out of my mouth

And jumped in the pickup and headed South.

For a front row seat to hear ole Johnny sing.

I hit Nashville cold and wet and hungry.

I said, "I'm here, bring him on let him do his thing."

But they told me down at the Old Pit Grill

I'd have to go all the way to Andersonville

For a front row seat to hear ole Jonny sing.

I found his house knocked on the door and it was opened

By a brown-haired girl and a baby with a teethin' ring.

I said "I seen you somewhere before

But don't stand there and block the door

I want a front row seat to hear ole Johnny sing."

Hey, John you walk the line,

Do "Deelia" one more time

And when you do them Cottonfields

You warm this heart of mine.

She said I'd have to go down to The Opry

And the feller there said I'd have to wait till Spring.

He said, "We've been sold out for months and months

And this poor insane fellah wants

A front row seat to hear ole Johnny sing."

Well, he said a couple more things, and I started cryin'

And then he laughed at me and that's when I started to swing.

Well I bust through the doors in a roaring rage,

Crawled over the crowd till I reached the stage

For a front row seat to hear ole Johnny sing.

Hey, John you walk the line,

Do "Deelia" one more time

And when you do them Cottonfields

You warm this heart of mine.

Then some crazy guard started shootin'

I shot back, and the next thing I know I was winged

And on the floor

When a guy in a voice kinda deep and low

Says, "Boy that's a mighty long way to go

For a front row seat to hear ANYBODY sing."

And I guess that judge, he weren't no music lover.

I got fifteen months but that don't mean a thing.

Cos' yesterday in the prison yard

A show come through and HAR! de HAR!

I had a front row seat to hear ole Johnny sing.