WE GOT PAID BY CASH

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It started March of sixty-four many years ago
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We were hired by Johnny Cash to open up his show
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Four boys, a worn-out Cadillac, with a roadmap on the dash
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For the next eight and one-half years we got paid by Cash

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He took us down to Nashville to Columbia Studios
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Not knowing where we came from they told us where to go
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But Johnny said "I like them, don't you give them no trash"
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You see we were Johnny's little boys and we got paid by Cash

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We were there when June became Johnny's loving bride
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And we sang to him that morning our buddy Luther died
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And we were there when the son was born that filled them both with pride
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And we were there when John remembered God was on his side 

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We watched on the concert stage we watched him write his songs
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And saw the things we had to do and the things that could go wrong
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And if we had to start again we'd do it in a flash
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Cause we learned more than we earned when we got paid by Cash

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And then the time when our career demanded that we go
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And thru some tears we all shook hands that last and final show
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All those years we never had a contract or a plan
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Whatever we may be today we owe it all to Cash

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We were there when June became Johnny's loving bride
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And we sang to him that morning our buddy Luther died
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And we were there when the son was born that filled them both with pride
    C                  G               D              G
And we were there when John remembered God was on his side

Now John will tell you there were years when times were good and bad
But we can tell you they were some of the best we ever had
Carl Perkins and The Carter's and The Tennessee Three
We were one big happy family and would have done it all for free