i was young when i left home
and i've been all around and '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
and just the other day i was bringing home my pay
when i met an old friend i used to know
he said, "your mother's dead and gone
and your baby sister's all gone wrong
and your daddy needs you home right away"
ot a shirt on my back, not a penny on my name
but i can't go home this way
this way, lord, lord, this way
but i can't go home this way
if you miss the train i'm on, count the days and i'm gone
you will hear the whistle blow a hundred miles
a hundred miles, honey baby, lord, lord, lord
and you'll hear that whistle blow a hundred miles
and i'm playing on a track, ma would come and woop my back
on them trusses down by ol' jim mckay's
when I pay the debt i owe to the commissary store
i'll pawn my watch and chain and go home
go home, lord, lord, lord
i'll pawn my watch and chain and go home
i used to tell my ma sometimes
when i see them riding blind
gonna make me a home out in the wind
in the wind, lord, lord, in the wind
gonne make me a home out in the wind
i don't like it in the wind
i'd go back home again
but i can't go home this way
this way, lord, oh this way
o, i can't go home this way
i was young when i left home
and i've been all around and 'round
and i never wrote a letter to my home
to my home, lord, lord, lord
i never wrote a letter to my home