Po' Folks Songtext

There's a whole lotta people lookin' down their noses at me Cause I didn't come from a wealthy family There was ten of us livin' in a two room shack On the banks of the river by the railroad track And we kept chickens in a pen in the back and everybody said we was po' folks My daddy was a farmer but all he ever raised was us Dug a forty foot well struck thirty-six gallons of dust Salvation Army gave us clothes to wear a man from the county came to cut our hair We lived next door to a millionare but that's how it is when you're po' folks We was po' folks livin' in a rich folks world we sure was a hungry bunch And if the wolf would ever come to our front door he'd had to brought a picnic lunch My grandaddy'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 but pa couldn't read And we was too broke to even pay heed and that's how it is when you're po' folks And that's how it is when you're po' folks We was po' folks livin' in a rich folks world we sure was a hungry bunch And if the wolf would ever come to our front door he'd had to brought a picnic lunch But we had something in our house money can't buy Kept us warm in the winter and cool when the sun's high For whenever we didn't have food enough and the howling winds would get pretty rough We patched the cracks and set the table with love Cause that's how it is when you're po' folks and we wadn't nothin' but po' folks My mama and my papa was po' folks my sister and my brother was po' folks My dog and my cat was po' folks and that's how it is when you're po' folks