This song was mentioned by Willie-O on 14-Jun-2012:


PAINT ME A PICTURE
As recorded by David Essig on "High Ground" (1974)

CHORUS: And I said: "Paint me a picture of the old homestead,
Of the country church out where my parents lie.
Paint me a picture of the house where we once lived,
'Cause it stands like a mansion on the hillside."

Well, I was just a farmer's son
Who left the fields like ev'ryone
Durin' that year when they finished school.
I hit the city and I looked for work
With a 4-H emblem on my shirt.
No one was gonna take me for a fool.

I won and I lost a hundred jobs.
Seems no matter what I got,
Just no kind o' work that suited me;
And before I knew it, the years had passed.
I saw my face in the window glass:
Just another wino on the street. CHORUS

One day when I was on the street,
Beggin' quarters so a boy could eat,
I just got a quart of cheap chablis.
I saw a man with a box of chalk,
Drawin' on the gray sidewalk,
And a little sign that read: "Donations, please."

Well, the old man looked up from the street.
Somethin' weird come over me.
Oh, I could swear it's someone I once knew.
As it turned out, we were high-school chums.
Now here we were: just drunken bums.
Ain't it sweet what twenty years can do? CHORUS

We went 'n' we drank that jug o' wine
An' talked about the good ol' times.
Heads were full o' booze an' memory;
And the old man said: "I gotta go,"
But I grabbed his sleeve an' whispered low:
"Before you leave, one thing please do for me." CHORUS


[Note: 2 albums originally released as LP's--"Redbird Country" (1973) and "High Ground" (1974)--have been re-released as one CD.]