Recorded by Hank Williams, Sr.
Written by Bonnie Dodd

CHORUS
A [F] tongue can accuse and carry bad [C] news
The [F] seeds of distrust, it will [C] sow
But [F] unless you've made no mistakes in your [C] life
Be careful of [G7] stones that you [C] throw.

(SPOKEN)
[C] A neighbor was passing my [F] garden one time
[C] She stopped and I knew right away [G7]
That it was gossip, not flowers, she had on her mind [C]
And this is what I heard my neighbor say:

[C] "That girl down the street [F] should be run from our midst
[C] She drinks and she talks quite a lot [G7]
She knows not to speak to my child or to me." [C]
My neighbor then smiled and I thought:

CHORUS

(SPOKEN)
A car speeded by and the screamin' of brakes
A sound that made my blood chill
For my neighbor's one child had been pulled from the path
And saved by a girl lying still.

The child was unhurt and my neighbor cried out:
"Oh! who was that brave girl so sweet?"
I covered the crushed, broken body and said:
"The bad girl who lived down the street."

CHORUS