(Shel Silverstein)      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...