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I was born and raised down in Alabama |
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On a farm way back up in the woods |
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I was so ragged the folks used to call me Patches |
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Papa used to tease me about it |
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Course deep down inside, he was hurt |
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'Cause he'd done all he could |
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My papa was a great old man |
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I can see him with a shovel in his hand |
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See, education he never had |
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He did wonders when the times got bad |
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The little money from the crops he raised |
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Barely paid the bills we made |
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Oh, life had kicked him down to the ground |
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When he tried to get up, life would kick him back down |
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One day, papa called me to his dyin' bed |
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Put his hands on my shoulders and in tears he said |
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He said, "Patches, I'm depending on you, son |
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To pull the family through |
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My son, it's all left up to you" |
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Two days later papa passed away |
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And I became a man that day |
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So I told mama I was gonna quit school |
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But she said that was daddy's strictest rule |
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So every morning 'fore I went to school |
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I fed the chickens and I chopped wood too |
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Sometimes I felt that I couldn't go on |
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I wanted to leave, just run away from home |
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But I would remember what my daddy said |
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With tears in his eyes on his dyin' bed |
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He said, "Patches, I'm depending on you, son |
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I've tried to do my best |
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It's up to you to do the rest" |
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Then one day a strong rain came and washed all the crops away |
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And at the age of thirteen I thought I was carrying the weight of the whole world on my shoulders |
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And you know, mama knew what I was going through, 'cause |
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Every day I had to work the fields |
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'Cause that's the only way we got our meals |
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See, I was the oldest of the family |
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And everybody else depended on me |
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Every night I heard my mama pray |
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"Lord, give him strength to make another day" |
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Though years have passed and all the kids have grown |
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The angels took mama to a brand new home |
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Lord knows, people, I shedded tears |
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But my daddy's voice helped me through the years |
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Saying, "Patches, I'm depending on you, son |
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To pull the family through |
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My son, it's all left up to you" |
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Oh, I could still hear papa's voice saying |
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"Patches, I'm depending on you, son |
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I've tried to do my best |
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It's up to you to do the rest" |
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I could still hear papa when he's saying |
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"Patches, I'm depending on you, son |
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To pull the family through |
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My son, it's all left up to you" |
