[Chorus:] I never picked cotton But my mother did And my brother did And my sister did And my daddy died young Workin' in the coal mine

When I was just a baby Too little for a cotton sack I played in the dirt While the others worked 'Til they couldn't straighten up their backs I made myself a promise When I was big enough to run That I'd never stay a single day In that Oklahoma sun

[Chorus:] Folks said I grew up early And that the farm couldn't hold me then so I stole ten bucks and a pickup truck And I never went back again Then it was fast cars and whiskey Long haired girls and fun I had everything that money could bring And I took it all with a gun

[Chorus:] It was Saturday night in Memphis When a redneck grabbed my shirt When he said go back to your cotton sack I left him dying in the dirt They'll take me in the morning To the gallos just outside And in the time I got There ain't a hell of a lot That I can look back on with pride

[Chorus:]