Detroit City

Last night I went to sleep in Detroit City

And I dreamed about those cottonfields and home

I dreamed about my mother dear old papa sister and brother

I dreamed about that girl who's been waiting for so long

I wanna go home I wanna go home oh how I wanna go home

Homefolks think I'm big in Detroit City

From the letters that I write they think I'm fine

But by day I make the cars by night I make the bars

If only they could read between the lines

Cause you know I rode the freight train north to Detroit City

And after all these years I find I was just wastin' my time

So I just think I'll take my foolish pride

And put on a Southbound freight and ride

And go on back to the loved ones I left waiting far behind

I wanna go home I wanna go home oh how I wanna go home

(Down in Dyess Arkansas and that part of the delta land where I grew up

I did my earliest singing and I learned my first songs

While picking or chopping cotton out in a cotton patch

Seems somebody was always singing while they worked

To help make the day go a little bit faster

I can remember my sister Louisie out in the cottonfields

She would keep us all cheered up by singing gospel songs and the hits of the days

And being a few years older than I was she'd teach me songs she'd say

I'm going to sing you this song three times

And then see if you're listening you sing it back to me

Sometimes she'd be way down the row picking ahead of me

And while she was waiting for me to catch up I could hear her singing)