Old Man Noll New Riders of the Purple Sage

Dawson

Old man Noll was a mean old soul, he lived across the hill
I didn't know him very well and now I never will
He had some sheep that grazed his land and he was very old
And all the kids would stay away, we knew he was a scold

Yeah, but our best tree house was on his hill
And our navy sailed on his pond
The years have only brought me pain
Now I'm sad the old man's gone

'Cause now the freeway rolls where old man Noll
Used to run his sheep in the meadow
And as you drive by if you really try
You still can see his shadow

Now, old man Noll was a mean old soul, at least the kids thought so
But we were much, much younger then and now I just don't know
The way it was when it was his, the land was clear and free
The land was life and with his wife was all that he could see

So when the houses came and brought
The kids who thought he was mean
I think that now at last I see
How sad he must have been