My mama never had nothing
That she could call her own
When I was three my daddy left me
and my mother all alone
I had to quit school and get a job
So I could pay my way
I broke my back on cotton field
for fifteen cents a day
But don't cry mama
Don't you cry
Oh mama don't you cry
We made it through to six days
When Vietnam broke out
My brother got k**ed and that gave
my mama some more to cry about
They sent us a wire and said
there he'd been k**ed and attacked
He helped a friend to get on his feet
And they shot him in the back
But don't cry mama
Don't you cry
Oh mama don't you cry
We made it through our trouble
We made it through the war
But mother's heart was so weak
And she just couldn't take any more
I told her not to worry
That we always had survived
But in the winter of 69
She just took sick and died
And I cried for mama everyday
You know I cried, cried for my mama