When I was just a baby, too little for the cotton sack
I played in the dirt while the others worked
till they couldn't straighten up their backs
and I made myself a promise, when I was old enough to run
then I'd never stay a single day
in that Oklahoma sun

And I never picked cotton
like my mother did, and my brother did
and my sister did, and my daddy died young
working in a coalmine

Folks said that I grew up early, and the farm couldn't hold me then
so I stole ten bucks and a pick-up truck
and I never went back again
and 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

And I never picked cotton
like my mother did, and my brother did
and my sister did, and my daddy died young
working in a coalmine

It was Saturday night in Memphis when a redneck grabbed my shirt
and he said, go back to your cotton sack
I left him lying in the dirt
and they will take me in the morning to the gallows just outside
and in the time I got there ain't a hell of a lot
I can look back on with pride

But I never picked cotton
like my mother did, and my brother did
and my sister did, and my daddy died young
working in a coalmine

I never picked cotton
like my mother did, and my brother did
and my sister did, and my daddy died young
working in a coalmine

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