100 Children

Tom T Hall 100 Children Lyrics
1.One Hundred Children

(chorus)
One hundred children, brave boys and girls
They come from nations all over the world
One hundred children marching along
One hundred children singing their song

Don't blow up the world, don't kill all the flowers
Today this is your world, tomorrow it's ours
Leave us pure water and forest uncut
Think of tomorrow, leave something for us

Your god may be dead but ours is alive
We think without him we cannot survive
Punish all the bad men, praise all the good
Talk to your neighbors about brotherhood

(chorus)

This is the song i was singing one night
While i was thinking of wrong and of right
I thought of good things that still could be done
The marchers now number one hundred and one

(chorus x 2)


2.I Can't Dance

I can't dance and i never could, i guess my feet don't match
I've been thinking 'bout dancing with you, but i'm afraid of
hurtin' my back
I don't know what you're doing but i like everything you do
Just for a little bit baby i'd come out and dance with you

(chorus)
But i can't dance and i'm feeling so good
Some of us can and some of us can't and some of us wish that we
could dance
Some can't dance and i guess i'm just one of the unfortunate few
Just for a little bit, baby, i'd come out and dance with you

My mind is out there with you now but i can't get my body to
move
Sitting here falling in love, love, love thinking something i
can't prove
My soul is willing and my mind is ready but it's something that
i never could do
Just for a little bit, baby, i'd come out and dance with you

(chorus)


3.I Want To See The Parade

Hold me up, i want to see the parade

There was a demonstration in our town, quiet but very tense
I've always been a bit nosy, so i guess that's the reason i went
There were people carrying signs that said, 'we want equality
now.'
And i thought to myself, 'boy, look at that will you. look what
the law allows.'

A little girl and her mother were standing up next to the curb
The little girl said, 'mommy, i can't see the parade', and it
happened that i heard
The woman who was with the little girl was small, and when she
turned and smiled
I thought i'd do them a favor, so i offered to hold the child

When i held the little girl in my arms, i was glad of the offer
i'd made
She said, 'thank you, mister, for holding me up; i wanted to see
the parade.'
Then she asked me a question, and it took me by surprise
She said, 'mister, why does my daddy hate all those people going
by?'

I said, 'well you know they're not the same--but listen to me'
And i noticed that the child was blind, so i looked around for
an answer; it was pretty hard to find
So i set her down by her mama's side and i patted her on the
head
And that night as i sat in my own little room, i thought of the
words she said

And that night, i took a good look at myself, and this is the
prayer i prayed
I said, 'lord, i want you to hold me up, 'cause i want to see
the parade.'


4.Sing A Little Baby To Sleep(Ode To Eddie)


5.Mama Bake A Pie(Daddy Kill A Chicken)

*...* denotes spoken part

People staring at me as they wheel me down the ramp toward my
plane
The war is over for me, i've forgotten everything except the
pain
Thank you sir, and yes sir, it was worth it for the ol' red,
white and blue
And since i won't be walking i suppose i'll save some money
buying shoes

The bottle hidden underneath the blanket over my two battered
legs
I can see the stewardess make over me and ask 'were you afraid?'
I'll say, 'why no i'm superman, and couldn't find the phone
booth quite in time.'
A gi gets a lot of laughs if he remembers all the funny lines

(chorus)
Mama bake a pie, daddy kill a chicken
Your son is coming home, 11:35 wednesday night

*mama will be crying and daddy's gonna say 'son, did they treat
you good?'
My uncle will be drunk and he'll say, 'boy, they doing some real
great things with wood.'*
The letter that she wrote me said good-bye, she couldn't wait
and lots of luck
The bottle underneath the blanket feels just like an old friend
to my touch

I know she'll come and see me but i bet she never once looks at
my legs
Naw, she'll talk about the weather and the dress she wore the
july 4th parade
Lord, i love her and i don't believe this bottle's gonna get her
off my mind
I see here in the paper, where they say the war is just a waste
of time

(chorus)


6.Ode To Half A Pound Of Ground Round


7.Pinto The Wonder Horse Is Dead


8.I Hope It Rains At My Funeral

Can't send no fourteen year-old boy to no school
The only thing i learned in the years i worked on my daddy's
farm
Was, 'son, you better get them crops in when it turns cool.'

In the magazines, i saw the naked women
I heard about the drinkin' and the bars
If my daddy could've caught me, he'd a-killed me
He said, 'you might run, boy, but you ain't gonna get far.'

I hit town or you might say that it hit me
Next mornin' there were things i knew more about

The woman who had taken me in said, 'country boy, you're all
right.'
The same way i turned her on, she turned me out
The first law i broke, right away they got me
I helped them build the country roads for awhile
They fed me two times a day and knocked me down about four
For thirty days i didn't even crack a smile

I met a nice girl and she said i was her baby
She let me go and would never tell me why
I learned what it means to be somebody's baby
They let you lie in your bed by yourself and cry

The miles were good but the mileage is turnin' my hair gray
I've met some people that knew me and call me friend
Ain't no sense in wantin' my life to live over
I'd find different ways to make those mistakes again

So let me say this, i never tried to hurt anybody
Though i guess there's a few that i still couldn't look in the
eye
If i've got one wish, i hope it rains at my funeral
For once, i'd like to be the only one dry


9.I Took A Memory To Lunch

Today the weather was so pretty
At noon i went out for a stroll
I walked and did some window shopping
And met someone i used to know

The years had been kind to her beauty
When i first saw her my heart jumped
Tonight if i seem disenchanted
I took a memory to lunch

We sat and talked about the old days
With misty teardrops in our eyes
And reconfirmed an old suspicion
The past grows old but never dies

The charm that draws two hearts together
By four o' clock was just too much
The days and years we had between us
Were down to just two coffee cups

You can't relive life in an hour
The afternoon kept wearing on
I'm sorry that i'm late for dinner
I took a memory to lunch


10.The Hitch-hiker

I don't know why it is every time i take a trip
It's always raining somewhere down the line
This particular night was in prestonsburg, kentucky
I stopped to give a country boy a ride

I saw him running toward the car, he carried an old suitcase
A cigarette was dangling from his lips
He threw the suitcase in the back and as he got inside
He said, 'i'm sorry, but i'm awful wet.'

I said, 'where are you headed, kid?' and he said, 'to
louisville'
Said he had an uncle there who ran a store
Said his daddy died three weeks ago and they didn't own the
place
And they said he couldn't live there anymore

He said his education was that he could read and write
He quit school the time his dad got hurt
Ain't much goes on in prestonsburg, and he was seventeen
And he had to go some place to find some work

He talked about the girl whose father had a lot of money
He said he'd send and get her if he could
His daddy taught him all there was about tobacco-farmin'
And he said he played the banjer pretty good

We stopped to get a sandwich and the waitress brought a menu
And i noticed that he read the prices first
He ordered him a hot dog with a lot of table ketchup
And water seemed to satisfy his thirst

Well, it took awhile but i insisted that i pay the ticket
Excused myself and went out to the car
He came out, got in the car and handed me a quarter
And he said, 'you left this layin' on the bar.'

I dropped him off in lexington and drove down to bowling green
And i thought, boy you'll never make it without help
And then i got to thinkin' about the days when i was younger
And i started out the same darn way myself

Well, i don't know why it is every time i take a trip
It's always raining somewhere down the line...


11.Old Enough To Want To(Fool Enough To Try)

I hope that gleam that you have in your eye
Is reflection from the buttons on your blouse
If it's not then we're in trouble, i can tell you why
I'm old enough to want to and fool enough to try

They don't make women like you anymore
And since there's not enough to go around
If you think what i think you're thinking, this is what i think
I'd be a crazy fool to turn you down

I hope that smile that you have on your lips
Is just a smile that you wear all the time
If it's something special, then start making up your line
I'm old enough to want to and fool enough to try
I'm old enough to want to and fool enough to try