WILLIE'S DRUNK AND NELLIE'S DYING
(Johnny Seay)

Johnny Seay - 1970



This is a true story about a good man and his woman
He was my neighbour for two years .....

There's a country man back in the hills, his name is Willie York
He's fifty-eight, his back's still straight, he lives on the big east fork
He knew the kind of freedom in his young life long ago
The kind you can't have today, no matter where you go

And he don't realise that the world around him's changed
So he tries to live the way he did, but his tryin's all in vain
His thinkin', it ain't just like yours, but that don't mean it's wrong
Willie's drunk and Nellie's dyin', Nellie's almost gone

Willie's drunk and Nellie's dyin', you ought to see their life
It's all been wrong, it's almost gone, it's been nothin' but a fight
Five little boys and four little girls, what will their future be
Oh, Willie's drunk and Nellie's dyin', there ain't nobody free

Down in a holler, in a shade where the sun don't ever shine 
Willie and his brother, they were makin' good moonshine
They spent thirteen and a half years in a Nashville prison cell
For killin' the deputy sheriff in the Williamson County jail

This man has been my neighbour now for two years and a week
His kids and mine, they play together down along the creek
Some say men like Willie York are just plain no good
But let me tell you, mister, Willie's done the best he could

Oh, Willie's drunk and Nellie's dyin', you ought to see their life
It's all been wrong, it's almost gone, it's been nothin' but a fight
Five little boys and four little girls, what will their future be
Willie's drunk and Nellie's dyin', there ain't nobody free

Willie York's a man who lives in a time that he don't fit
In youth he lived a free life that our times will not permit
And there's thousands more just like him from the mountains to the plains
They need help just because they don't know how to change
If a buck or two you'd like to send to a good man who's in need
Send to Willie York, Big East Fork, Franklin, Tennessee

Oh, Willie's drunk and Nellie's dyin', you ought to see their life
It's all been wrong, it's almost gone, it's been nothin' but a fight
Five little boys and four little girls, what will their future be
Oh, Willie's drunk and Nellie's dyin', there ain't nobody free
Willie's drunk and Nellie's dyin', there ain't nobody free


(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - April 2018)