Ol' Joe Bryson lived down a dirt road in the holler No use for no license and that automobile He got to town on his own two feet
Tough stained hands from raisin' his cattle and t'bacca And soft -hearted for the shiny clean Cherokee hair Rosalee could sit on in her rockin' chair
A dollar a day he made at the sawmill by the river And lost outta work like everyone and taxes comin' due He heard the news and you know it's the truth (Chorus) Back in '29, back in nineteen and twenty-nine
He cried, Rosalee I'm leavin' at sunrise I heard 'em talkin' down at the stockyard There's jobs up north and I know it Rosalee I'm walkin' to Detroit Rosalee I'm walkin' to Detroit (2x)
Back in '29, back in nineteen and twenty-nine
Ol' Joe Bryson sent money from Kentucky to the holler Soft-hearted for the shiny clean Cherokee hair Rosalee could sit on in her rockin' chair' Back in '29, back in nineteen and twenty-nine
(Chorus)
The years rolled on past the wheels on his chair in the city No use for no license and that automobile He's gone to heaven with his own two feet