Rough On The Living Lyrics - Bobby Bare

I wanna sing this song for a friend of ours 

His picture was in all the papers 

They said that a legend had passed 

The late evenin' news did a special report 

And swore that his mem'ry would last 

They're playin' his records all weekend 

Praisin' the life that he lived 

Nashville is rough on the livin' 

But she really speaks well of the dead. 

The wife that they interviewed cried 

Is the same one who left him last fall 

And the record producer who called him a hero 

Is the one who wouldn't answer his calls 

The ladies they sit over coffee 

Braggin' bout sharin' his bed 

They didn't want him around when he's livin' 

But he's sure a good friend when he's dead. 

They observed twenty seconds of silence 

At the Opry on Saturday night 

And they're searchin' the bars and the basements 

For some souvenir of his life. 

They're plannin' a book for September 

Showin' his plain country roots 

Any they're sellin' the rights to the movie 

And the Hall of Fame's gettin' his boots 

At the funeral somebody recited a poem 

That told how he suffered and bled 

Nashville is rough on the livin' 

But she really speaks well of the dead. 

Yeah, Nashville is rough on the livin' 

But she really speaks well of the dead...