The Carroll County Accident

Album: The Carroll County Accident (1968)
Charted: 92
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  • Carroll County's pointed out as kind of square
    The biggest thing that happens is the county fair
    I guess that's why it seemed like such a big event
    What we all call the Carroll County accident

    The wreck was on the highway just inside the line
    Walter Browning lost his life and for a time
    It seemed that Mary Ellen Jones would surely die
    But she lived long enough for her to testify

    Walter Browning was a happy married man
    And he wore a golden wedding ring upon his hand
    But it was gone, nobody knew just where it went
    He lost it in the Carroll County accident

    Mary Ellen testified he flagged her down
    Said he was sick and could she drive him into town
    No one even doubted what she said was true
    'Cause she was well respected in the county too

    I went down to see the wreck like all the rest
    The bloody seats, the broken glass, the tangled mess
    But I found something no one else had even seen
    Behind the dash, in Mary's crumpled up machine

    A little match box circled by a rubber band
    And inside, the ring from Walter Browning's hand
    It took a while to figure out just what it meant
    The truth about the Carroll County accident

    By dark of night, I dropped the ring into a well
    And took a sacred oath that I would never tell
    The truth about the Carroll County accident
    'Cause the County ordered dad a marble monument

    I lost him in the Carroll County accident Writer/s: Bob Ferguson
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 10

  • Da from Denver, CoOK, so they were having an affair, but that doesn't tell the truth about the accident, how/why did it happen? Did they get run off the road, did Mary Ellen take her eyes off the road and wreck the car? Were they arguing and Mary Ellen purposely wrecked?
  • Randy from InIt seems strange that he would take his wedding band off and hide it in her car to hide from her the fact that he was married to someone else.
  • Anonymous from CaliforniaGreat song and thats how it was
  • Dee Frazier from PennsylvaniaPeople, read the last two lines for your answers.
  • Brad In Wi from WiWhy was the ring in a match box?
    In her car, behind the dash?
    They obviously "knew" each other.....
  • Sonja from GaTo Peter from Kalgoorlie: The narrator says "I lost him in the Carroll County accident",so he apparently was a relation of Walter Browning.
    To Rod from Al: Walter may have been lying about his marital status to his mistress.
  • Peter from KalgoorlieWhere in the lyrics does it say the narrator is Browning's son?
  • Kerry from TxI first heard the song in elementary school and understood what was going on immediately. It's not that hard!
  • Rod From Al from Alabama I don’t get it. If the two were having an affair and they were the only two in the car, why hide the wedding band? And was she wearing a wedding ring? Makes no sense!
  • Sharon from TnWalter Browning was the passenger, not Mary Ellen Jones. It was her car, he flagged her down to pick him up.
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