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