i wanna sing this song for a friend of ours his picture was in all the papers they said that a legend had passed the late evenin news did a special report and swore that his mem ry would last they re playin his records all weekend praisin the life that he lived nashville is rough on the livin but she really speaks well of the dead the wife that they interviewed cried is the same one who left him last fall and the record producer who called him a hero is the one who wouldn t answer his calls the ladies they sit over coffee braggin bout sharin his bed they didn t want him around when he s livin but he s sure a good friend when he s dead they observed twenty seconds of silence at the opry on saturday night and they re searchin the bars and the basements for some souvenir of his life they re plannin a book for september showin his plain country roots any they re sellin the rights to the movie and the hall of fame s gettin his boots at the funeral somebody recited a poem that told how he suffered and bled nashville is rough on the livin but she really speaks well of the dead yeah nashville is rough on the livin but she really speaks well of the dead 