I was heading north on Highway 5, on a starlit Sunday night On a pickup truck driven by me out of control As I watched in my headlights, he swerved left Never hit the brakes as he left the road I found him blind in the grass among the steel and glass With an empty whiskey bottle by his side And through the blood and tears, he whispered in my ear A few last words just before he died "Don't tell mama I was drinking Lord knows her soul would never rest I can't leave this world with mama thinking I met the Lord with whiskey on my breath" You know I still think about that night And how that young boy died And how others sometimes pay for our mistakes And you know the last thing on that boys mind As he left this big cold world behind Was just knowin' his poor mothers heart would break Don't tell mama I was drinking Lord knows her soul would never rest I can't leave this world with mama thinking I met the Lord with whiskey on my breath Don't tell mama I was drinking