Merle Haggard - The Conversion of Ronnie Jones lyrics

Ronnie Jones decided to settle down so he married Annie Birch Now Annie hadn't been around too much she mostly only went to church Right away she started in insistin' that he come on up and join He said I'll tell you what I'll do to settle this by dog I'll flip a coin Preacher used some fancy words but Ronnie tried his best to understand 'Cause he loved his little Annie and for her he wanted to be a better man But of all the things they told him it seemed that he remembered only one He said, "I guess I'll have to go up there and tell 'em everything I've done" The Sunday meeting just took up and Ronnie stood outside half scared to d**h Regretin' what he had to do in there and tried hard to get his breath There didn't seem to be much use to put off what he had to do no more So he backed way up and took a run and bolted through the double lobby door Annie's eyes began to overflow with tears of joy at what she saw The preacher took him by the hand and said, "Bless you my boy, tell it all" While every head was bowed in prayer some women slipped outside as if to pray Fearin' what the spirit might cause Ronnie and his circumstance to say All their fears were justified his simple life became an open book Names like Dorris Cunningham, Wanda Webb, even Marlene Cook Another kind of fire began to burn down in the depths of Annie's soul She turned on Ron and used some words nobody'd ever heard her say before "Sometimes we know not what we pray for"