Well I ain't lived but in one little place
And lived there all my life
I ain't known but one woman
And now she is my wife
I ain't been further than up the road,
To town and back again
I ain't known but a handful full of folks
And them I call my friends
Now I'm goin' to leave here
Now I'm goin' away
Keep my fiddle in tune for me
I'll need it some sweet day
Well the preacher told my only son,
"Sign you up for war,
Fight for your life far from your home,
And never come back no more."
Well my only son come home one day,
We buried him up the hill.
Next to his Auntie and his old Grandma
And his dear old Uncle Bill
Now I'm goin' to leave here
Now I'm goin' away
Keep my fiddle in tune for me
I'll need it some sweet day
Well now I'm a gonna go myself,
Find what it's all about
Why'd they take a poor man's son?
Now he was all I got.
Whose pockets are filled with gold?
They don't have to fight,
Leave home, say goodbye to their kids
And worry on them all night.
Now I'm goin' to leave here
Now I'm goin' away
Keep my fiddle in tune for me
I'll need it some sweet day
Well I set up a camp one day
On the street where the rich man live
He won't come out and talk to me,
And he don't have time to give
Call the cops and say roustabouts
A' livin on our place
Take him away and his dirty kind
And I don't wanna see his face.
Now I'm goin' to leave here
Now I'm goin' away
Keep my fiddle in tune for me
I'll need it some sweet day
Well I wish I'd stayed at home
And kept my son there too
You can give to the rich man all day long
He'll never give back to you
Call the cops and say "roustabouts
Are living on our place
Take him away and his dirty kind
I don't wanna see his face.
Well now I'm goin' to leave here
Now I'm goin' away
Keep my fiddle in tune for me
I'll need it some sweet day
Well I wish I'd stayed at home
And kept my son there too
Lord you can give to the rich man all day long
He'll never give back to you
He can call me roustabout
And do it all he please
Never will I stop for him
And get down on my knees.
Said that now I'm goin' to leave here
Now I'm goin' away
Keep my fiddle in tune for me
I'll need it some sweet day