Kenny Rogers
(Aug. 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020)
“In a bar in Toledo across from the depot
on a bar stool she took off her ring
I thought I’d get closer
so, I walked on over
I sat down and asked her her name
when the drinks finally hit her
she said I’m no quitter
but I finally quit livin’ on dreams
I’m hungry for laughter and here ever after
I’m after whatever the other life brings
in the mirror I saw him, and I closely watched him
I thought how he looked out of place
he came to the woman who sat there beside me
he had a strange look on his face
the big hands were calloused
he looked like a mountain
for a minute I thought I was dead
but he started shaking
his big heart was breaking
he turned to the woman and said,
‘you
picked a fine time to leave me Lucille
with four hungry children and a crop in the field
I’ve had some bad times
lived through some sad times
but this time your hurtin’ won’t heal
you picked a fine time to leave me Lucille’
after he left us, I ordered more whiskey
I thought how she’d made him look small
from the lights of the bar room
to a rented hotel room
we walked without talking at all
she was a beauty but when she came to me
she must have thought I’d lost my mind
I couldn’t hold her ’cause the words that he told her
kept coming back
time after time
‘you picked a fine time to leave me
Lucille …’ ”
(Song written by Hal Bynum and Roger Bowling)