Couldn't tell my teacher my last name when I was in grade school
Stuttered when I talked and everybody laughed at me
I was a boy from across the tracks
I wore hand-me-downs on my back
But I swore that I'd never let the bitters get the best of me

Fell in love with a pretty little girl when I was older
And like a fool, I figured there was something I could make of me
But it wasn't in the cards 'cause her daddy was rich
And it was commonly plain to see
No matter what I did she would never take a likin' to me

But it's all right, it's all right
I come up the hard way and fought a good fight
And it's all right with me
It's all right, it's all right
I come up the hard way and fought a good fight
And it's all right with me

If I'm lucky I still got a few more years of livin'
And lady luck's never been a real good friend to me
I never asked a favour of a man in my life
But the preacher I'm gonna see
And tell him when I die say these words over me

Here lies a man who never asked the world for nothin'
He laboured in the sun and slept in the shade of a tree
His hands was calloused but his heart was warm
For his mind was pure and free
The good Lord knows that's the way a man's got to be
It's all right, it's all right
I come up the hard way and fought a good fight
And it's all right with me
But it's all right, it's all right
I come up the hard way and fought a good fight
And it's all right with me
It's all right, it's all right