I've been traveling all these years
Just barely getting by
The road can be your friend
Or the devil in disguise

When the tough get going
The muses visit me
Yet in soft, low tones
They always say to me
Say to me

"It ain't no groove thing
It ain't no country twang
It's a simple refrain;
It's a soul thang." (2x)

Where the city street meets the county road
Where the sun is nice and warm
No matter how long I may roam
This song still takes us home
Takes us home

Now we'll tell you about these times
When the blues come out to play
And jazz leaves her number...
It's funny, she always says:
"It ain't no groove thing
It ain't no country twang
It's a simple refrain;
It's a soul thang." (2x)

Now I'll tell you about these times
When the blues come out to play
And jazz leaves her number...
It's funny, she always says:

"Well, the city lights fly by me
As their eyes are getting heavy
We're sending our love over telephone wire
These days getting lonelier by the mile...by the mile."

It ain't no groove thing
It ain't no country twang
It's a simple refrain;
It's a soul thang. (2x)

It ain't no groove thing
Yeah, ain't no country twang
It's a simple refrain;
It's a soul thang. (2x)