I was young when I left home
And I been out a-rambling round
And I never wrote a letter to my home
To my home lord 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 is dead and gone
Baby your sisters all gone wrong
And your daddy needs you home right away
Not a shirt on my back
Not a penny to my name
Lord I can't go home this a-way
If you miss the train I'm on
Count the days I'm gone
You will hear that whistle blow hundred miles
Hundred miles honey baby lord lord lord
You'll hear that whistle blow a hundred miles
And I'm playing on a track
Mama 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 lord
I will pawn my watch and chain and go home
Used to tell mama sometimes
When you see them riding blinds
Going to make me a home out in the wind
In the wind lord lord in the wind
Oh make me a home out in the wind
I don't like it in the wind
Gonna go back home again
But I can't go home this way
This way lord lord this way
Lord I can't go home this way
This way lord lord this way
And I can't go home this way
I was young when I left home
And I been out a-rambling around
And I never wrote a letter to my home
To my home lord lord to my home
And I never wrote a letter to my home