| It started March of sixty-four
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| Many years ago
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| We were hired by Johnny Cash
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| To open up his show
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| Four boys, a worn out Cadillac
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| With a road map on the dash
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| For the next eight and one half years
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| We got paid by Cash
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| He took us down to Nashville
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| To Columbia studio
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| Not knowing where we came from
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| They told us where to go
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| But Johnny said, «I like 'em
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| Don’t you give them no trash»
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| You see, we were Johnny’s little boys
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| And we got paid by Cash
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| We were there when June became
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| Johnny’s lovin' bride
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| And we sang to him that mornin'
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| Our buddy Luther died
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| And we were there when the son was born
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| That filled them both with pride
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| And we were there when John remembered
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| God was on his side
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| We watched him on the concert stage
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| We watched him write his songs
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| And saw the things we had to do
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| And the things that could go wrong
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| And if we had to start again
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| We’d do it in a flash
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| 'Cause we learned more than we earned
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| When we got paid by Cash
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| Then came the time when our career
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| Demanded that we go
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| And through some tears we all shook hands
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| That last and final show
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| All those years we never had
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| A contract or a clash
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| Whatever we may be today
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| We owe it all to Cash
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| We were there when June became
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| Johnny’s lovin' bride,
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| And we sang to him that mornin'
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| Our buddy Luther died
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| And we were there when the son was born
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| That filled them both with pride
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| And we were there when John remembered
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| God was on his side
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| Now John will tell you there were years
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| When times were good and bad
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| But we can tell you they were some
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| Of the best we ever had
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| Carl Perkins and the Carters
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| And the Tennessee Three
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| We were one big happy family
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| And would have done it all for free
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| Don don, don don
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| Don don, don don |