I was young when I left home And I been out a-ramblin' round But I never wrote a letter to my home To my home, Lord, Lord, to my home And I never wrote a letter to my home It was just the other day I was bringing home my pay When I met an old friend I used to know Said your mother’s dead and gone Baby sister’s all gone wrong And your daddy needs you home right away Not a shirt on my back Not a penny to my name Lord, I can’t go home this way If you miss the train I'm on Count the days I'm gone You will hear that whistle blow a hundred miles A hundred miles, honey baby, Lord, Lord, Lord You’ll hear that whistle blow a hundred miles And I'm playing on the track Mama come and whoop me back On the trestles down by old Jim McKay’s When I pay the debt I owe To the commissary store I will pawn my watch and chain and go home Go home, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord I will pawn my watch and chain and go home Used to tell Ma sometimes When you see them riding blind Going to make me a home out in the wind In the wind, Lord, Lord, in the wind Gonna make me a home out in the wind But I don’t like it in the wind Gonna go back home again But I can’t go home this way This-a-way, Lord, Lord, this way Lord, I can’t go home this way This-a-way, Lord, Lord, this-a-way And I can't go home this way I was young when I left home And I been out a-ramblin' round But I never wrote a letter to my home To my home, Lord, Lord, to my home And I never wrote a letter to my home