Po' Folks

(álbum: Story Songs For Country Folks - 1964)

There's a whole lotta people looking down their noses at me
'Cause I didn't come from a wealthy family
There was ten of us living in a two room shack
On the banks of the river by the railroad track
And we kept chickens in a pen in the back
And everybody said we was po' folks

My daddy was a farmer but all he ever raised was us
Dug a forty foot well struck thirty-six gallons of dust
Salvation Army gave us clothes to wear
A man from the county came to cut our hair
We lived next door to a millionare
But that's how it is when you're po' folks

We was po' folks living in a rich folks world
We sure was a hungry bunch
And if the wolf would ever come to our front door
He'd had to brought a picnic lunch

My grandaddy's pension was a dollar and thirty-three cents
That was ten dollars less than the landlord wanted for rent
Oh, the landlord's letters got nasty indeed
He wrote get out but pa couldn't read
And we was too broke to even pay heed
And that's how it is when you're po' folks

And that's how it is when you're po' folks

We was po' folks living in a rich folks world
We sure was a hungry bunch
And if the wolf would ever come to our front door
He'd had to brought a picnic lunch

But we had something in our house money can't buy
Kept us warm in the winter and cool when the sun's high
For whenever we didn't have food enough
And the howling winds would get pretty rough
We patched the cracks and set the table with love
'Cause that's how it is when you're po' folks

And we wasn't nothing but po' folks
My mama and my papa was po' folks
My sister and my brother was po' folks
My dog and my cat was po' folks
And that's how it is when you're po' folks...