A Bible And a Belt

They were both made of leather

Both black and fraid and warm

I was brought up to respect them

Since the day that I was born

One came here for minglin'

It's been handed down for years

The other one was ordered from

A catalogue at Sears

When my mama read to me

Well, I was well into my teens

And I thought all the other one was for

Was to hold up daddy's jeans

Till I told a lie and learned

It had another purpose too

And behind the shed, my daddy said

Does it hurt me more than you?

'Cause one had my daddy's name on it

The other said King James

With love they taught us lessons

But we feared them both the same

One led us to heaven

And the other hurt like hell

But those were the days when kids were raised

With a bible and a belt

I remember when I was twelve

I stole a dime store comic book

And how mama read what the scripture said

To take back what I took

When I refused my daddy took

My arm and said come on

I needed more, he knew than just Matthew

Mark, Luke and John

Sometimes it made me cry

Sometimes it made me frightened mad

I wish I've been raised without them

Like some other children had

But now I'm grown with kids of my own

And I know just how they felt

And though it seems to me that

What the world still needs

Is a bible and a belt

'Cause one had my daddy's name on it

The other said King James

With love they taught us lessons

But we feared them both the same

One led us to heaven

And the other hurt like hell

But those were the days when kids were raised

With a bible and a belt

A bible and a belt