WRITTEN BY: OWEN TEMPLE
Hours before the dawn, James opened up his eyes
Cotton bursting from the soil from the moment he would rise
Apple trees dropped their fruit and bowed before his gaze
Harvesting and growing crops was how he spent his days
Gentle James
His wife Ada hugged him close and so she bore a child
For each hour of the daylight, eight kids were running wild
They were angels, they were devils, they worked kitchens and in fields
Abundance and fertility his progeny would yield
Gentle James
If you praise his name, “big deal” he’ll say
He’ll give the credit all away
Humility, fertility will multiply and grow
Sprouts spring up from his footsteps everywhere he’d go
Green thumb? He had green everything, that’s how his bounty grew
All his neighbors saw his barns full so that’s how they knew
Lord knows it wasn’t bragging ’cause James barely spoke a word
Who knows how the grand prize judge at the county expo heard
Of Gentle James
So when his name was in the papers, his voice grew softer that day
Now he spoke like a summer breeze, “aw shucks” is all he’d say
He’d wave his hand, deflect the praise
And reflect the Texas sun’s rays
If you praise his name, “big deal” he’ll say
He’ll give the credit all away
Humility, fertility will multiply and grow
Sprouts spring up from his footsteps everywhere he’d go
The more famous that he got, the more soft spoken he would be
“I don’t like folks’ attention” so he’d stand still as a tree
The kids grew up and had more kids – cousins, brothers, sisters
Clouds of children turned and swirled like tornado alley twisters
‘Round Gentle James
You can call him father, you can call him old grandpa
Newspaper called him patriarch that was the final straw
The doctor called it cancer, cells grew so fast they hurt
James walked into a wheatfield and laid down in the dirt
Gentle James
If you praise his name, “big deal” he’ll say
Give the credit all away
Humility, fertility will multiply and grow
Sprouts spring up from his footsteps everywhere he’d go
Into the fertile land that fruitful man had gone to seed
Humble happiness he harvested with hardly any weeds
Patient cultivation if a husband you would be
And keep your arms spread out wide like branches of a tree
Like Gentle James
If you praise his name, “big deal” he’ll say
He’ll give the credit all away
Humility, fertility will multiply and grow
Sprouts spring up from his footsteps everywhere he’d go
Gentle James
© 2022 Owen Temple Music (BMI)