LEONARD Recorded by: Merle Haggard Written by: Merle Haggard When LEONARD finally came to Cali-for-D nia He was twen-G ty-one years old as I recall He loved to write a song and pick the gui-D tar And he came to hang a Gold A one on the wall. The town in which he lived is not impor-G tant But you’ll know which town I mean by the time I’m thru He soon became a famous enter-G tainer But LEONARD was a name A he never used D. He was on his way to having what he wanted Just about as close as one could be Hey! once he even followed Elvis Presley And he wrote a lot of country songs for me. But he laid it all aside to follow Jesus For years he chose to let his music go But preaching wasn’t really meant for LEONARD But how in the hell was LEONARD s’posed to know. Well life began to twist its way around him And I wondered how he carried such a load He came back again to try his luck in music And lost his wife and family on the road. SPOKEN: {After that he seemed to bog down even deeper And I saw what booze and pills could really do And I wondered if I’d ever see him sober But I forgot about a Friend that LEONARD knew.} Well LEONARD gave me lots of inspiration He helped teach me how to write a country song And he even brought around a bag of groceries Hey! back before Muskogee came along. Really I’m not trying to hide his showname Or the town in which this episode began SPOKEN: {Somehow I had to write a song for old Tommy} If just to see the smilin’ faces in the band. When LEONARD finally came to Cali-for-D nia He was twen-G ty-one years old as I recall And he loved to write a song and pick the gui-D tar And he came to hang a Gold A one on the wall. SOURCE: MERLE HAGGARD-DOWN EVERY ROAD