I was born and raised down in Alabama
On a farm way back up in the woods
folks used to call me Patches
My daddy poked fun of me but
Inside I knew he was hurting cause
My papa was a great old man,
I can see him with a shovel
I'm catching up, I'm catching up.
See, education he never had,
he went on to spend a times got bad.
I'm gagging a little here, I'm
The education he never had
Worked wonders when the times got bad
The little money from the crops he made
Built the bills that way, baby
Life would knock him back down
One day he called me to his dying bed
Put his hands on my shoulders said,
he said, Patches, I'm depending on your son
To pull the family through
My son, it's all left up to you
Two days later, Papa passed away
And I became a man that day
I told Mama I was gonna quit school
that was Daddy's strictest rule
So every morning before I went to school
Sometimes I felt like I couldn't go on
Yeah, I wanted to leave and
But I could still hear what my daddy said
With tears in his eyes, on his iron bed
I'm depending on you, son
Then one day a strong rain came
and washed all the crops away
At the age of 13 I felt I had the whole weight
of the world on my shoulders
Every day I had to work the fields
It's the only way we had our meals
You see, I was the oldest of the family
Everybody else depended on me
Every night I heard my mama pray
Lord, give him the strength to
Well, at least the planets
Lots of tears I shed, yeah
I'm depending on you, son
to pull the family through
My son, it's all left up to you
Patches, I'm dependin' on you son,
it's up to you to do the rest
I'm depending on you, son
To pull the family through
My son is all and all to you
Oh, Daddy! piano & Oh! My life story.
What? Gilbert and Sullivan.
Did you tell me to go Sullivan?
I know, the only Republican
-recognized method of birth control.
