Jacob Brown

Jacob Brown found me when I was a baby

Abandoned on some lonesome city street

He took me in and tried his best to raise me

To pick me up and put me on my feet

He taught me how to dance and play the banjo

I passed the hat while that old man would sing

We played every two-bit town from Maine to Texas

I can tell a half a-dollar from a quarter from the way she rings

And I recall a boxcar and a bedroom

Have supper cookin’ by railroad tracks

But that was home to us, it made no difference

That I was white and Jacob Brown was black

We were somewhere close to Kansas City, Kansas

Tradin’ songs for drinks in some saloon

I picked a piece while Jacob did the softshoe

You could’ve heard a pin drop in the room

Than I tipped my hat and started for the money

And just as quick I turned and he was down

He said, “Son, I guess I’m bound to leave you nothin’.”

But nothin’ was a lot to Jacob Brown

So, I’m goin’ on the Oklahoma City

Tryin’ to put tomorrow on my mind

But I just can’t seem to get it all together

‘Cause I find it kinda hard to leave an old friend behind