I grew up poor on an old dirt lot, half a mile from the nearest black top
my daddy got it cheap use to be a land fill, he helped to buy it on the G.I. Bill
life was slow on the reservation, there on the edge of the Sac and Fox Nation
watchin the cars go by as the sun went down, and I dreamed about a life far away from this red dirt town


I remember the day I turned eighteen, I hitched a ride to the Dairy Queen
it was right across the street from the old bus stop, mama begged me not to leave but I could not stop
ticket in hand and ready for adventure, felt like a slave released from indenture
I’d come this far, too far to turn back now
and I got away as fast as I could from this red dirt town

(Chorus)

Gets in your blood, gets on your boots
it’s hard to shake the dirt from your roots
you can tell by the way I look and the way I sound
I come from a red dirt town
I was headed for the promise land, the big city’s where I’d make my stand
by the time I reached the coast I was gatherin dust, after three long days on a Grey Hound bus
But, the grass didn’t seem as green, as it did on the movie screen
those streets of gold were boarded up and run down, and I missed my life back home in that red dirt town

(Chorus)

Wasn’t long till I was down and out, guess Mama knew what she was talkin about
when she said there’s nothin worse than bein alone, seventeen hundred miles away from home
When I couldn’t last another day, I made the hardest call I ever had to make
Mama picked up the phone, and that’s when I just broke down
and she said son you can always come home to this red dirt town

(Chorus)