Down in south carolina in the piny woods
Where they make sweet turpentine;
There I first saw the light of day
Landing on my mind.
Running in the sunshine laughing,
Rolling in the red dirt crying.

I said, hmmh,
Good god have mercy.

Canary warehouses, baby, I went to school;
I even lunched from the cans of our store;
Heating them up on a hot-bellied stove;
I used to keep out in the cold.
Sitting 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.

Trestling 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' 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.