I was young when I left home
But I been out rambling around
And I never wrote a letter to my home
To my home, Lord, to my home
I never wrote a letter to my home

It was just the other day
I was drinking all my pay
When I met an old friend I used to know
You said your mother’s dead and gone
Your baby sister’s all gone wrong
Your daddy needs you home right away

Not a shirt on my back
Not a penny on my name
Well I can’t go home this way
This way, Lord, Lord, Lord
I can’t go home this way

If you miss the train I’m on
Count the days I’m gone
You'll hear that whistle blow a hundred miles
A hundred milеs, Lord, Lord, Lord
You’ll hear that whistle blow a hundred milеs

When I was playing on the track
Ma would come and whoop me back
On them trestles down by old McKay’s
When I pay the debt I owe
To the commissary store
I will pawn my watch and chain and go home
Go home, Lord, Lord, Lord
I will pawn my watch and chain and go home

Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord
I will pawn my watch and chain and go home

Used to tell my Ma sometimes
When I see them riding blinds
Gonna make me a home out in the wind
In the wind, Lord, in the wind
Gonna make me a home out in the wind

I don’t like it in the wind
I want to go back home again
But I can’t go home this way
This way, Lord, Lord, Lord
Now I can’t go home this way

I was young when I left home
I been out rambling around
I never wrote a letter to my home
To my home, Lord, to my home
And I never wrote a letter to my home