When I was a young man beginnin' my teens

How well I remember the lickin's I'd get cause I'd dream

My work never finished, barely begun

I couldn't get started till all of my dreamin' was done



I wouldn't shuck cotton', I wouldn't chop wood

And Pa would whip me and say that's for bein' no good

But I kept chasin' rainbows, finally I found

The great open range and the hills were my best dreamin' ground



When I left the home place our Mother did cry

She begged me to stay there and not say goodbye

My Pa told my Mother, your tears are in vain

Your son is a dreamer and the winds call his name



So don't try to stop him, let him move on

'Cause he won't stop his driftin'

Till all of his dreamin' is gone



Last night in a campfire a face I did see

A vision of Mother, she seemed to be callin' to me

For seventeen years now, I've drifted alone

But I wanna see Mother, tomorrow I start driftin' home



The last hill I've climbed now, and what do I see

An old run down shack where the ranch used to be

Then I see a tombstone and then see one more

I drifted too long from the old ranch house door



There's nothin' more left now but driftin', it seems

But I hope I can dream of the lickin's I'd get

'Cause I'd dream