I never picked cotton But my mother did and my brother did and my sister did And my daddy died young workin' in the coal mine When I was just a baby too little for a cotton sack I played in the dirt while the others worked Till they couldn't straight enough their backs And I made myself a promise when I was big enough to run That I'd never stay a single day in that Oklahoma sun And I never picked cotton But my mother did and my brother did and my sister did And my daddy died young workin' in the coal mine Folks said I grew up early in the farm that couldn't hold me then So I stole ten bucks and a pickup truck and I never went back again And it was fast cars and whiskey long haired girls and fun I had everything that money could bring and I took it all with a gun But I never picked cotton... It was Saturday night in Memphis when a redneck grabbed my shirt And when he said go back in your cotton sack I let 'im dyin' in the dirt They'd take me in the mornin' to the gallows just outside And in the time I've got there ain't a hullava lot that I can look back on with pride But I never picked cotton... But I never picked cotton...