When I was born I was running

As my feet hit the ground

Before I could talk I was humming

An old railroad sound

Things didn't get much better

When by the age of five

They found me walking into Clarksdale

Trying to keep my friends alive

No time for celebration

Now there's no known cure

Seeing I was born and raised

On the wrong killing floor

And my loved ones gathered round

To see the experiment at work

I was misplaced out of time

Never rich - never worse



Oh momma, please don't cry for me

Tears to the river - tears to be free

And I see twelve white horses walking in line

Moving east across the metal bridge

On highway forty-nine

And standing in the shadows of a burnt out motel

The King of Commerce Mississippia waited with his hound from hell

A shiny neon riverboat taking income from the poor

It's floating by the levee in an artifical pool

There's a six-mile tailback back out of junction 304

A stranger at the crossroads

I believe I'd seen his face before

Oh, don't cry for me

Tears fill the river - tears to be free

I'm sad to be leaving

The sun's gone down and I've really got to go now

Sad to be leaving

The sun's gone down - I've really got to go now

Yeah, really got to go now

I've got to go - I've got to move

Sad to be leaving

Sun's gone down - I've really got to go now

Sad to be leaving

The sun's gone down and I've really got to go now

Yeah, really got to go now