Po Folks

Lyrics by Bill Anderson

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 a livin' in a two room shack on the banks of the river by the railroad track.

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 give us clothes to wear a man from the county came to cut our hair. We lived next door to a millionaire but we wasn't nothin' but po' folks.

We was po' folks a livin' in a rich folks world. We sure was a hungry bunch. If the wolf had ever come to our front door he'd a have had to brought a picnic lunch. My grand-daddy's pension was a dollar and thirty-three cents. That was ten dollar less than the landlord wanted for rent. 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, 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. If the wolf had ever come to our front door he'd a have had to brought a picnic lunch. But we had something in our house money can't buy. Kept us warm in the winter cool when the sun was high, for whenever we didn't have food enough and the howlin' winds would get pretty rough.

We patched the cracks and set the table with love , cause that's what you do when you're po' folks, and we wadn't nothin' but po' folks, my mom and my dad was po' folks... my brother and my sister was po' folks...my dog and my cat was po' folks and even the po' folks was po' folks!!!


This song inspired this entry. I have always really loved this song. For sure, It come out before I was born. Anyways.... I'm sick of my life situation. At this point, I'm living to pay for what I did in the past. All I did is work and study. I don't know why that had to cost so much money. Part of me would like to have come from a rich family. I'd only like to have the opportunities that they have. I would have liked to have had choices. I did more than I could have imagined with no money after high school. I travelled the world and went to a great university. I studied what I wanted to study. I did what I wanted to do. However, during my time at university, I had to work non-stop just to pay the bills at my mom's house. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally thrilled that I live in a country that has given me the chance to follow my dreams. However, no matter what... I've been disadvantaged in some ways. All of the little things mentioned in this song have led to the point of stagnation I'm found in today. I try my best to do whatever I can do to improve my life. I work 5 dang jobs. I admit that one of them is more or less for fun. In fact, I like work. It doesn't bother me. However, I'm stuck at my mom's house. I can't do it any longer, but I must. It drives me crazy, partly cuz she's crazy. I'd take a job in a different state in a minute. I'm certified in three areas for secondary education and I have a crazy amount of expereince. One can forget going to the Amazon or wherever. I'm done with that.