The Benefactor by Stephen Scholle

Sam stepped into the bar last night
And didn't have much to say
His fortune had been ransomed for the life of a girl
And he didn't know how it would play

As he downed a shot of bourbon he wept
Life's sting poured down his throat
It wasn't til Molly told him the truth
that he realized the pitch of his slope

Now Molly was orphaned at age 14
Her step-father bruised her with guilt
He used her the way his father used him
It filled her with loathing and filth

When Sam stepped in she had a good friend
Compassionate and loving
But little did she know how it would go
for him to be so giving

Oh Molly oh Molly
Why did you distress my heart so
I wanted to give you a hand
But I'm stuck here unable to go

I'm stuck here a dim sort of scarecrow
As the gathering shadows surround me
Their caws and their claws dissemble my dreams
As the morning light robs me

Oh Molly oh Molly
why did you distress my heart so
I'm stuck here in limbo
As dark wings pull from below

What Sam didn't know when he came to her aid
was that Molly had mothered a child
And the step-father took that sweet baby away
claiming to be warden of a minor

His friends the judge and the sheriff agreed
and Molly was left with no choice
Sam was fighting a jurisdiction
that stripped her of her voice

He was fighting a predator, a rapist and a lyer
And before he knew it Sam was trapped
in an oncoming prairie fire

Ooh-ooh oohhhh
Ooh ooh oohhhh

With only his word in his own defense
Charges were being filed
Sam was accused of abusing Molly
and fathering her newborn child

Oh Molly oh Molly
How you captured my heart and my dreams
You've stolen my heart and you've stolen my hope
All that's left is the gallows it seems

For to know you has cost me the life of my soul
and the brightness where youth cast its gleam
For to know you has robbed me of peace and of pleasure
And the brightness where once lived my dreee-
eee- eaams
Ahh ahh aahhh
ohh ohh ohhhhh
ooh ooh oohhhh

• Acoustic
• Blues
• Frontier Americana
• Jazz ballad
• Singer-songwriter
• Swing
• Hartsdale