Down in South Carolina in the piny woods
Where they make sweet turpentine;
There I first saw the light of day
Landin' on my mind.
Runnin' in the sunshine laughin',
Rollin' in the red dirt cryin'.
I said, hmmh,
Good God have mercy.
Canary warehouses, baby, I went to school;
I even lunched from the cans of our store;
Heatin' them up on a hot-bellied stove;
I used to keep out in the cold.
Sittin' around, you know, just to tell "˜em lies about, ah,
What I'd be when I grew old.
I said, hmmh,
Good God have mercy.
Trestlin' the track down, mama, where the BNN
Used to haul;
Freight train caught daddy one day;
He took a long, long fall.
I'd only been taught to think on life;
Never thought on death at all.
I said, hmmh,
Good God have mercy.
Now every Sunday after church
There'd be a meeting on the ground.
Some good soul, she would always say
"It's a shame about Frieda Brown!"
Mama and the ladies they formed a society;
They'd run Frieda out of town.
I said, hmmh,
Good God have mercy.
Daddy's on the main line, mama wants him home,
Daddy's on the main line, the kid' don't need him home.
Good God have mercy.