Walk tall, walk tall, walk straight
and look the world right in the eye
That's what my mama told me
when I was about to be high
She said, son, be a proud man
and hold your head up high
Walk tall, walk tall,
and look the world right in the eye
All through the years that I grew up,
Ma taught these things to me
But I was young and foolish then
and much too blind to see
I ignored the things she said
as if I'd never heard
Now I see and understand
the wisdom of her words
Walk taunt, walk straight
and look the world right in the eye
That's what my mama told me
when I was about to be high
She said, son, be a proud man
and hold your head up high
Walked on to walk straight
and looked the world right in the eye
I started going places
where the youngsters shouldn't go
I got to know the kind of girls
it's better not to know
I fell in with a bad crowd
and laughed and drank with them
Through the laughter mama's words
would echo now and then
Walk tall, walk straight
and look the world right in the eye
That's what my mama told me
when I was about to be high
She said, son, be a proud man
and hold your head up high
Walk tall, walk straight
and look the world right in the eye
I got in trouble with the law
and I'm in prison now
Through these prison bars
I see things so much different now
I have one year left to serve
and when my time is done
I'll walk tall and straight
and make Ma proud to call me son
Walk tall, walk straight
and look the world right in the eye
That's what my mama told me
when I was about three high
She said, son, be a proud man
and hold your head up high
Walk tall, walk straight
and look the world right in the eye
Walk tall, walk straight
and look the world right in the eye
Walk tall
Oh boy, thank you very much.
This next song, ladies and gentlemen,
is a song that I just came to know
a number of months ago.
I was at a function
and a lady called Mary
Darcy got up and sang this song,
and when she had finished it,
I said to her, Mary, that's just beautiful,
and she told me the story
that her husband, Des,
had written it for her.
He had a terminal illness
and she came in one night
after doing a show
and he was there and he said,
Mary, he says,
I don't know if I'm going
to make our anniversary.
So I wrote you this song.