My daddy played poker in the woods they say
Back in his younger days
Prohibition was the talk, but the rich folks walked
To the woods where my Daddy stayed

Jugs and jars from shiners
These old boys here, they ain't miners
They came from the '29ers
It didn't take a hole in the ground to put the bottom in their face

Back in the thirties when the dust bowl dried
And the woods in Alabama didn't see no light
My daddy played poker by a hard wood fire
Squeezing all his luck from a hot copper wire

Scrap like a wildcat fights till the end
Trap a wildcat and take his skin
Deal from the bottom, put the ace in the hole
One hand on the jug but you never do know

"Son, come runnin'. You better come quick
This rotgut moonshine is making me sick
Your mama called the law and they're gonna take me away
Down so far even the Devil won't stay."

Where I call to the Lord with all my soul
I can hear him rattling the chains on the door
He couldn't get in, I could see he tried
Through the shadows of the cage around the 40-watt light
Daddy, tell me another story
Tell me about the lows and the highs
Tell me how to tell the difference 'tween
What they tell me is the truth or a lie

Tell me why the ones who have so much
Make the ones who don't go mad
With the same skin stretched over their white bones
And the same jug in their hand

My daddy played poker on a stump in the woods
Back when the world was gray
Before black and white went and chose up sides
And gave a little bit of both their way

The only blood that's any cleaner
Is the blood that's blue or greener
Without either you just get meaner
And the blood you gave gives you away

"Son, come runnin'. You better come quick
This rotgut moonshine is making me sick
Your mama called the law and they're gonna take me away
Down so far even the Devil won't stay."

Where I call to the Lord with all my soul
I can hear him rattling the chains on the door
He couldn't get in, I could see he tried
Through the shadows of the cage around the 40-watt light