[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 alot

That I can look back on with pride



[Chorus]