I was young when I left home But I been out a-ramblin' round And I never wrote a letter to my home To my home, Lord, to my home And I never wrote a letter to my home
It was just the other day I was bringing home my pay When I met an old friend I used to know
Said your mother’s dead and gone Baby sister’s all gone wrong And your daddy needs you home right away
Not a shirt on my back Not a penny on my name Well I can’t go home thisaway Thisaway, Lord, Lord, Lord And I can’t go home thisaway
If you miss the train I’m on Count the days I’m gone You will hear that whistle blow a hundred miles A hundred miles, honey baby. Lord Lord Lord And you’ll hear that whistle blow a hundred miles
I’m playing on a track Ma would come and whoop me back On them trestles down by old Jim McKay’s
When I pay the debt I owe To the commissary store I will pawn my watch and chain and go home Go home, Lord Lord Lord I will pawn my watch and chain and go home
Used to tell Ma sometimes When I see them riding blinds Gonna make me a home out in the wind In the wind, Lord in the wind Make me a home out in the wind
I don’t like it in the wind Wanna go back home again But I can’t go home thisaway Thisaway, Lord Lord Lord And I can’t go home thisaway
I was young when I left home And I been out rambling ‘round And I never wrote a letter to my home To my home, Lord Lord Lord And I never wrote a letter to my home