Let Him Roll – English Lyrics

• By: Johnny Cash

Lyrics & Translation

Explore the depths of storytelling with Johnny Cash's 'Let Him Roll,' a song that paints a vivid picture of a wino's life and lost love. This track offers a glimpse into the struggles of addiction and loneliness, all while showcasing Cash's unique ability to connect with the human experience.

[English]

(upbeat country music)

♪ Let him roll, boys, let him roll ♪

♪ I bet he's gone to Dallas, rest his soul ♪

♪ Now he was a wino, tried and true ♪

♪ Done about everything there is to do ♪

♪ He worked on freighters, he worked in bars ♪

♪ He worked on farms and he worked on cars ♪

♪ Now it was white port wine that put that look in his eye ♪

♪ That grown men get when they need to cry ♪

♪ And we sat down on the curb to rest ♪

♪ And his head just fell down on his chest ♪

♪ He said every single day ♪

♪ It gets just a little bit harder to handle and yet ♪

♪ Then he lost the thread and his mind got cluttered ♪

♪ The words just rolled off down in the gutter ♪

♪ He was a elevator man in a cheap hotel ♪

♪ In exchange for the rent on a one-room cell ♪

♪ And he's years old before his time ♪

♪ No thanks to the world and the white port wine ♪

♪ So he said, son, he always called me son ♪

♪ He said life for you has just begun ♪

♪ And then he told me the story that I'd heard before ♪

♪ How he fell in love with a Dallas whore ♪

♪ He could cut through the years to the very night ♪

♪ That it all ended in a whorehouse fight ♪

♪ And she turned his last proposal down ♪

♪ In favor of being a girl about town ♪

♪ Now it's been 17 years right in line ♪

♪ And he ain't been straight none of the time ♪

♪ It's too many years of fightin' the weather ♪

♪ And too many nights of not being together ♪

♪ So he died ♪

♪ Let him roll, boys, let him roll ♪

♪ I'll bet he's gone to Dallas, rest his soul ♪

♪ Let him roll, boys, let him roll ♪

♪ He always thought that heaven was just a Dallas whore ♪

♪ When they went through his personal affects ♪

♪ In among the stubs from the welfare checks ♪

♪ Was a crumblin' picture of a girl in a door ♪

♪ An address in Dallas and nothin' more ♪

♪ Well the welfare people provided the priest ♪

♪ And the couple from the mission down the street ♪

♪ Sang Amazing Grace and nobody cried ♪

♪ Except some lady in black way off to the side ♪

♪ We all left and she's standing there ♪

♪ The black veil covering her silver hair ♪

♪ And old one-eyed John said her name was Alice ♪

♪ She used to be a whore in Dallas ♪

♪ Let him roll, boys, let him roll ♪

♪ I bet he's gone to Dallas, rest his soul ♪

♪ Let him roll, boys, let him roll ♪

♪ He always thought that heaven was just a Dallas whore ♪

♪ Let him roll, boys, let him roll ♪

♪ Let him roll ♪