A Bible And A Belt

They were both made of leather
Both black and frayed and worn
And I was brought up to respect them
Since the day that I was born
One came here from England
And it's been handed down for years
The other one was ordered from
A catalog at Sears
One my mama read to me
Till 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 out behind the shed, my daddy said
This'll 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 left a whelp
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 where the scripture said
To take back what I took
When I refused my daddy grabbed
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 fightin' mad
And I wish I'd 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
You know it seems to me 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