[Chorus]
I was young when I left home
And I've been out rambling 'round
And I never wrote a letter to my home
To my home, Lord, to my home
And I never wrote a letter to my home

[Verse 1]
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
Little sister’s all gone wrong
And your daddy needs you home right away
Not a shirt on my back
Not a penny on my name
Well I can’t go home this way
This way, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord
Well I can’t go home thisaway

[Verse 2]
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 will hear that whistle blow a hundred miles
[Verse 3]
I’m playing on a track
Ma would 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
Used to tell Ma sometimes
When I see them riding blinds
Gonna 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
I don't, well I don’t like it in the wind
I want to come back home again
But I can’t go home thisaway
Thisaway, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord
No I can’t go home thisaway

[Chorus]
I was young when I left home
And I've been out rambling 'round
And I never wrote a letter to my home