Ride this train to Dyess Arkansas see this cottonland 

Some of us are so poor now you'd have to sell 'em a sack of fertilizer 

To raise an umbrella 

They grade the cotton according to the length and strength of the fibre 

And they been raisin' a lot of fair to middlin' grade here which ain't good 

But there was a time 

Yeah there was a time when the cotton grew tall 

Not far from here I had the finest plantation you ever saw 

About 600 acres of the finest cottonland in the country 

Now I believe this was about 1855 and I had a bumper crop that year 

I had the best bunch of slaves you ever saw and I treated 'em right 

Well a lot of em even stayed with me after the war 

But gettin' back to what I was gonna tell you 

See I have a rule that all the slaves got to be back in out of the fields 

And accounted for by sundown every day 

And one day when they came in there was one short 

Well I found out right away that it was old uncle Moses that was missin' 

And figured that somethin' might have happened to him old as he was 

So I went out into the cottonfield to look for him 

Well uncle Moses was way down at the end of the road sittin' on his cottonsack 

Well I walked up and said Uncle Moses don't you know the rule 

That you're supposed to be punished if you're not back in and accounted for by dark 

And he said Boss Jack I know that sir 

But I was pickin' along on my road 

And all of a sudden somethin' seemed to come over me 

And the finest words started comin' through my head and the finest music 

So I rememorized them words and that music till I had it all in my head 

Now that I got the song all through I guess Boss Jack 

I was ready to take my punishment 

Well I didn't hardly know what to say 

But I asked Uncle Moses to sing that song for me 

And he stood up there and for the first time he sang Swing Low Sweet Chariot 

Well after that I kinda laid old Uncle Moses off and let him peddle around the house 

And every night at dark you could hear him sing 

And he sang another song once in a while that made me feel awful proud