(Chorus) I never picked cotton Like my mother did Or my brother did Or my sister did And my daddy died young Workin' in a 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 old 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 legged 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 And 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 gallows just outside And in the time I got There ain't a hell of alot That I can look back on with pride