My mama never had nothing

That she could call her own

When I was three my daddy left me

and my mother all alone



I had to quit school and get a job

So I could pay my way

I broke my back on cotton field

for fifteen cents a day



But don't cry mama

Don't you cry

Oh mama don't you cry



We made it through to six days

When Vietnam broke out

My brother got killed and that gave

my mama some more to cry about



They sent us a wire and said

there he'd been killed and attacked

He helped a friend to get on his feet

And they shot him in the back



But don't cry mama

Don't you cry

Oh mama don't you cry



We made it through our trouble

We made it through the war

But mother's heart was so weak

And she just couldn't take any more



I told her not to worry

That we always had survived

But in the winter of 69

She just took sick and died

And I cried for mama everyday

You know I cried, cried for my mama