Back in ’29

[Verse 1]
Ol' Joe Bryson lived down a dirt road in the holler
No use for no license and that automobile
He got to town on his own two feet

[Verse 2]
Tough stained hands from raisin’ his cattle and t'bacca
And soft -hearted for the shiny clean Cherokee hair
Rosalee could sit on in her rockin' chair

[Verse 3]
A dollar a day he made at the sawmill by the river
And lost outta work like everyone and taxes comin’ due
He heard the news and you know it's the truth

[Refrain]
Back in '29, back in nineteen and twenty-nine

[Chorus]
He cried, Rosalee I'm leavin' at sunrise
I heard 'em talkin' down at the stockyard
There's jobs up north and I know it
Rosalee I’m walkin’ to Detroit
Rosalee I'm walkin’ to Detroit

[Refrain]
Back in '29, back in nineteen and twenty-nine

[Verse 4]
Ol' Joe Bryson sent money from Kentucky to the holler
Soft-hearted for the shiny clean Cherokee hair
Rosalee could sit on in her rockin' chair’

[Refrain]
Back in '29, back in nineteen and twenty-nine

[Chorus]
He cried, Rosalee I'm leavin' at sunrise
I heard 'em talkin' down at the stockyard
There's jobs up north and I know it
Rosalee I'm walkin' to Detroit
Rosalee I'm walkin' to Detroit

[Refrain]
Back in '29, back in nineteen and twenty-nine

[Verse 5]
The years rolled on past the wheels on his chair in the city
No use for no license and that automobile
He's gone to heaven with his own two feet

[Chorus]
He cried, Rosalee I'm leavin' at sunrise
I heard 'em talkin' down at the stockyard
There's jobs up north and I know it
Rosalee I'm walkin' to Detroit
Rosalee I'm walkin' to Detroit

[Refrain]
Back in '29, back in nineteen and twenty-nine

[Chorus]
He cried, Rosalee I'm leavin' at sunrise
I heard 'em talkin' down at the stockyard
There's jobs up north and I know it
Rosalee I'm walkin' to Detroit
Rosalee I'm walkin' to Detroit

[Refrain]
Back in '29, back in nineteen and twenty-nine

[Refrain]
Back in '29, back in nineteen and twenty-nine