I was raised on corn bread and gravy
And I slept in a cardboard box till I was nearly three
I bathed myself in muddy river runnin' by our shack
By the time that I had reached thirteen I'd been through hell and back
I've been throwed from pillar to post I've been banged around and scarred
I've done so much I've seen so much now I've lived so fast and hard

Mama died when I was young and I never knew my dad
I never had the love and care that other children had
I spent five years in an orphan's home but I ran off one day
And I hoboed an old freight train to San Francisco Bay
I've fought in the war I've been in jail there ain't much I ain't done
I'd lived as much as any man before I was twenty one
I've been throwed from pillar to post...