Patches

I was born and raised down in Alabama on a farm way back up in the woods

I was so ragged my folks used to call me Patches

Papa used to tease me about it cause deep down inside he was hurt

Cause he'd done all he could

My papa was a great old man I can see him with a shovel in his hands

See education he never had he did wonders when the times got bad

The little money from the crops he raised barely paid the bills we made

For life had kick him down to the ground

When he tried to get up life would kick him back down

One day Papa called me to his dyin' bed

Put his hands on my shoulders and in his tears he said

Patches I'm depending on you son to pull the family through

My son it's all left up to you

Two days later pappy passed away and I became a man that day

So I told ma I was gonna quit school but she said that was daddy's strictest rule

So every morning fore I went to school I fed the chickens and I chopped wood too

Sometimes I felt that I couldn't go on I wanted to leave just run away from home

But I would remember what my daddy said with tears in his eyes on his dyin' bed

He said Patches I'm dependin' on you son

I tried to do my best it's up to you to do the rest

Then one day a strong rain came and washed all the crops away

And at the age of thirteen I thought I was carryin' the weight

Of the whole world on my shoulders

And you know mama knew what I was goin' through

Cause every day I had to work the fields cause that's the only way we got our meals

See I was the oldest of the family and everybody else depended on me

Every night I heard my mama pray Lord give him the strength to make another day

So years have passed and all the kids are grown

The angels took mama to a brand new home

Lord knows people I shed tears but my daddy's voice kept beatin' through my ears

Said Patches I'm depending on you son to pull the family through

My son it's all left up to you

I can still hear my daddy's sayin' to me son

Patches I'm depending on you son to pull the family through

My son it's all left up to you