I don't know why it is every time I take a trip
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It's always raining somewhere down the line
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This particular night was in Prestonsburg, Kentucky
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I stopped to give a country boy a ride
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I saw him running toward the car, he carried an old suitcase
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A cigarette was dangling from his lips
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He threw the suitcase in the back and as he got inside
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He said, "I'm sorry, but I'm awful wet."
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I said, "Where are you headed, kid?" And he said, "To Louisville"
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Said he had an uncle there who ran a store
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Said his daddy died three weeks ago and they didn't own the place
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And they said he couldn't live there anymore
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He said his education was that he could read and write
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He quit school the time his dad got hurt
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Ain't much goes on in Prestonsburg, and he was seventeen
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And he had to go some place to find some work
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He talked about the girl whose father had a lot of money
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He said he'd send and get her if he could
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His daddy taught him all there was about tobacco-farmin'
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And he said he played the banjer pretty good
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We stopped to get a sandwich and the waitress brought a menu
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And I noticed that he read the prices first
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He ordered him a hot dog with a lot of table ketchup
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And water seemed to satisfy his thirst
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Well, it took awhile but I insisted that I pay the ticket
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Excused myself and went out to the car
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He came out, got in the car and handed me a quarter
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And he said, "You left this layin' on the bar."
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I dropped him off in Lexington and drove down to Bowling Green
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And I thought, boy you'll never make it without help
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And then I got to thinkin' about the days when I was younger
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And I started out the same darn way myself
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Well, I don't know why it is every time I take a trip
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It's always raining somewhere down the line...
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-----------------
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The Hitch-hiker
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Tom T. Hall |