Po' Folks
Anderson Bill Lyrics

There's a whole lotta people lookin' down their noses at me
Many people judge and look down on me.

'Cause I didn't come from a wealthy family
This is because I was not born into a rich family.

There was ten of us livin' in a two room shack
Ten people had to share a small two-room home.

On the banks of the river by the railroad track
Our home was by the river and near the railroad tracks.

We kept chickens in a pen in the back and everybody said we was po' folks
We kept chickens in a pen in our backyard, and everyone considered us poor.

My daddy was a farmer but all he ever raised was us
My father was a farmer, but he spent all his time raising us instead of crops or animals.

Dug a forty foot well struck thirty-six gallons of dust
My father dug a well, but he only found 36 gallons of dust instead of water.

Salvation Army give us clothes to wear a man from the county came to cut our hair
We received donated clothes from the Salvation Army and a county worker came to cut our hair.

We lived next door to a millionare but we wadn't nothin' but po' folks
Despite living next to a millionaire, we were still considered poor.

We was po' folks livin' in a rich folks world we sure was a hungry bunch
Our family was struggling to get by in a wealthy society and often went hungry.

If the wolf had ever come to our front door he'd've had to brought a picnic lunch
We were so poor that if a wolf came to our doorstep, it would have to bring its own food.

My grandaddy's pension was a dollar and thirty-three cents
My grandfather received only $1.33 as his pension.

That was ten dollar less than the landlord wanted for rent
My grandfather's pension was $10 less than the rent the landlord required.

The landlord's letters got nasty indeed he wrote get out but pa couldn't read
The landlord wrote hostile letters and demanded that we move out, but my father could not read them.

And we was too broke to even pay heed but that's how it is when you're po' folks
We were too broke to do anything about the landlord's threats, but that's just the reality of being poor.

But we had something in our house money can't buy
Despite our poverty, we had something more valuable than money.

Kept us warm in the winter cool when the sun was high
This thing kept us comfortable in both the winter and summer.

For whenever we didn't have food enough and the howlin' winds would get pretty rough
When we didn't have enough food and the wind was blowing hard,

We patched the cracks and set the table with love
We repaired any damage to our home and sat down to eat together with love and appreciation.

'Cause that's what you do when you're po' folks and we wadn't nothin' but po' folks
This is what we did because we were poor and had nothing else.

My mom and my dad was po' folks my brother and my sister was po' folks
My entire family was poor - my parents, siblings, everyone.

My dog and my cat was po' folks and even the po' folks was po' folks
Even my pets were poor, and everyone in our community was also poor.