The time, 11:33 on a saturday, november, 1923 I'm synchronized, it's wise to keep my wits about me My name is roy, a one-time choir boy Now i'm sixteen, man, and i'm nobody's toy I'm gonna take to the wind and get this town behind me (chorus) I'm jumpin' a train leavin' town Howling whistle sounds And i'm not looking back -- gonna tie my fate to a train track Got a whiskey bottle tied in a corn sack Hold on world, i'm coming, i'm hitching a ride on a north-bound train Am i alive? won't somebody tell me The mississippi waves, what's it trying to sell me? Mud in the banks, but no one gets thanks When it's tracked in through the doorway I am home grown, sewn into these britches But i'm not spending my life digging up ditches Like my daddy did, and his daddy did, and his daddy before