The Fortune Teller Lady

Talk-sung country ballad, southern drawl, stripped-down acoustic

The Fortune Teller Lady 
Verse 1
We loaded up in Marble Falls For our senior trip that year Twelve long years of school behind us Freedom finally drawing near
Down to San Antonio With a couple of busloads full of dreams Class of Seventy raisin’ cane Or so it surely seemed
Verse 2
Late that afternoon we wandered Near Breckenridge Park to play Arcades, rides and laughter Just killing time away
A fortune teller had a booth So several of us stepped up to it When she took one look and smiled Then stared me in the eye
Verse 3
She studied all the palm lines I had Then looked me in the eye Said, “One day you’ll write a book, son”
We nearly laughed ourselves to death that afternoon 
‘Cause I’d survived English by the grace Of girls who sat close by And helped me through each miserable class Lord knows how, but I got by
Chorus
I was a numbers kind of fellow Always figuring something out I was more impressed with counting dollars Than reading books and writing stories down
I couldn’t tell a verb from a noun Not then, anyhow But sometimes life has funny ways Of proving fortune tellers right somehow
Verse 4
I left the twelfth grade clueless About grammar rules and such Conjugating sentences Wasn’t something I knew much
Books were for smart people Writers lived somewhere else I was gonna drive trucks, dig ditches, build roads And make my living with my hands
Bridge
Then years rolled by like Texas highways One mile marker at a time Stories gathered all around me Waiting for a place to shine
Friends and family, jobs and journeys Memories too good to lose And before I ever knew it I was writing more than just a few
Final Chorus
Now I’ve got stories by the hundreds Maybe thousands, truth be told About Marble Falls and Smithwick And the people I have known
So if that old fortune teller Could somehow see me now She’d grin and say, “I told you, son…”
And I’d have to admit somehow
For a boy who barely made it Through English class somehow

That old fortune teller lady 
Saw something I couldn’t see
In a Marble Falls boy
Back in Nineteen Seventy

2058/7500

The Fortune Teller Lady Verse 1 We loaded up in Marble Falls For our senior trip that year Twelve long years of school behind us Freedom finally drawing near Down to San Antonio With a couple of busloads full of dreams Class of Seventy raisin’ cane Or so it surely seemed Verse 2 Late that afternoon we wandered Near Breckenridge Park to play Arcades, rides and laughter Just killing time away A fortune teller had a booth So several of us stepped up to it When she took one look and smiled Then stared me in the eye Verse 3 She studied all the palm lines I had Then looked me in the eye Said, “One day you’ll write a book, son” We nearly laughed ourselves to death that afternoon ‘Cause I’d survived English by the grace Of girls who sat close by And helped me through each miserable class Lord knows how, but I got by Chorus I was a numbers kind of fellow Always figuring something out I was more impressed with counting dollars Than reading books and writing stories down I couldn’t tell a verb from a noun Not then, anyhow But sometimes life has funny ways Of proving fortune tellers right somehow Verse 4 I left the twelfth grade clueless About grammar rules and such Conjugating sentences Wasn’t something I knew much Books were for smart people Writers lived somewhere else I was gonna drive trucks, dig ditches, build roads And make my living with my hands Bridge Then years rolled by like Texas highways One mile marker at a time Stories gathered all around me Waiting for a place to shine Friends and family, jobs and journeys Memories too good to lose And before I ever knew it I was writing more than just a few Final Chorus Now I’ve got stories by the hundreds Maybe thousands, truth be told About Marble Falls and Smithwick And the people I have known So if that old fortune teller Could somehow see me now She’d grin and say, “I told you, son…” And I’d have to admit somehow For a boy who barely made it Through English class somehow That old fortune teller lady Saw something I couldn’t see In a Marble Falls boy Back in Nineteen Seventy

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