[Verse 1] Those cotton fields were hot And that tractor never was my kind of livin’ And when I hit sixteen I had my size And I hit the road to freedom And I’m glad I wasn’t there to see my mama ’Cause she must have cried for hours I still hear her saying to me Get your guitar and pick the wildwood flower [Verse 2] Now Memphis it was big And it was hard to find a job and so I didn’t and it was easier to go back to the country and it was more like livin’ Now I’ve been down every road And I’ve stood on every porch where they were givin’ And if they had a dime or an hour I would pick the wildwood flower [Verse 3] It’s hard to turn around And look back down the roads that I have travelled ’Cause like a never-ending ball of twine My dreams have come unravelled And now as evening lays it’s shawl Across the shoulders of my life I find I couldn’t tie my life together With guitar strings and a poet’s heart felt line [Outro] And I’m glad I wasn’t there to see my mama ’Cause she must have cried for hours I still hear her saying to me Get your guitar and pick the wildwood flower