Elizabeth Cook - Stanley By God Terry

Stanley by God Terry knew exactly how it felt
To play a George Jones song in a white leather belt
With matching shoes, polyester blues
At the Pine Grove Lounge for all you can drink booze
A bloody bucket of ol broads and men
Who had been clean shaven when they started at 10

When Stanley got goin' with mama by his side
And daddy on bass singin' Charlie Pride
Kaw-lija, Folsom, Stand By Your Man
Just a few you might hear from the band
Nobody gets it like Tom T. Hall
Sad spun laughs off a disco ball

They could kinda play but they could really drink
Somebody'd finally say exactly what they think
And Pine-Sol, sawdust and last night's beer
And a bolo tie on a rear view mirror
There's a fighter in every dancin' fool
I watched all as a baby from a black barstool

Stanley's wife Carol didn't care to hang around
She liked he drink, just didn't take it in town
They'd knock down drag out every weekend
By Sunday somebody's face was on the mend
And passed out cold on the concrete porch
Love sure is a bitch when your liver is scorched

South end of the county had a whole ‘nother bar
Where the band would play since it wasn't very far
There were more strange women, even more smoke
In a field by a legendary live oak
Carol came in hot on Hennessy
Left and wrapped her car round that live oak tree

I remember in the morning mama dropping the phone
I remember hushed words and hearing daddy groan
They had a pretty daughter, shy little Sherry
We went and picked her up from the school library
She was 16 and could sing so sweet
And on a really good night she'd babysit me

After all that it gets kinda cloudy
But 2 years later she was Miss Sumter County
As small town, trashy, tragic goes
She feathered her hair and sang The Rose
The whole Cow Palace knew just how she felt
And Stanley By God Terry wore a white leather belt
And country music and hillbilly pain
Make stories that'll hurt ya, and hold ya like a chain