There's a whole
lot of 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 and
a pen in the back,
and everybody said we was fo' folks
My daddy was a farmer,
but all he ever raised was us
He dug a forty foot well,
struck thirty -six gallons of dust
The Salvation Army gave us clothes to wear,
a man from the county came to cut our hair
We lived next door to a billionaire,
but that's how it is when
you're poor folks
We was poor folks livin'
in a rich folks' world,
we sure was a hungry bunch
And if the wolf ever come
to our front door,
he'd have to draw a picnic lunch
My granddaddy'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, the call couldn't read
And we was too broke to even pay heed
And that's how it is
when you're poor folks
That's how it is when
you're poor folks
We was poor folks livin'
in a rich folks world
We sure was a hungry bunch
And if the wolf would ever come
to knock on the door
He'd have had to draw a picnic lunch
We had somethin' that our
house money can't buy
Kept us warm in the winter
and cool when the sun's high
Weep, weep, weep, weep
For whenever we didn't
howl good enough
And the howlin' winds
would get pretty rough
We'd patch the crack and
set the table with love
Cause that's how it is
when you're poor folks
And we wasn't that the poor, poor folks
My mama and my papa was the poor folks
A sister and a brother was more folk
A dog and a cat was more folk
And that's how it is
when you're more folk