Though I can't show you, the years of my life
That I spent on the road of freedom
Don't let it throw you, I know of your strife
I know what it's like to roam

I sang'em a glad song, played'em a sad song
Sang'em the whole night long, just for a dollar
Or what they could offer to somebody's ramblin' boy

When the fun was done I would pack my bags and I was gone
Though the women were kind
There was nothing to bind me to one

Well, somebody changed my rough and rowdy ways
Somebody changed my old carrousin' days
Oh, when I was a young boy, I learned to survive
Well, somebody came and stayed my sportin' life

I lived in the bar rooms, the juke joints and gin mills
I worked any dive in town, never too proud
To pass my hat around in every place I found

I'll sing you a glad song, play you a sad song
Sing'em the whole night long, just for a dollar
Or what you can offer to somebody's ramblin' boy

There were times when lonely was the only feeling left in me
Or when the cold and the rain
Made it hard on a man to be free

Then somebody changed my cold and hungry days
Somebody changed my rough and rowdy ways
Somebody changed my old carrousin' days
Oh, when I was a young boy, I learned to stay alive
Till somebody came and stayed my sportin' life