Well, thank you very much,
ladies and gentlemen.
It's a pleasure to be back
with you again
on the WWVA Wheeling Jamboree.
It's picking time in my part of
the country,
and it's memory time for me, I guess.
I remember a lot of things that happened when I was a little boy back home on the
cotton farm and the faith that my mother and daddy instilled in me
because they always believed
that things were
going to be all right.
Sometimes he tested us and tried us and put us through
a hard time.
But it seems he always gave us a blessing
that followed up the testing
and the trying period.
A good time when things were better
had pointed to a time when things would
be a lot better.
Like the flood of 1937 -38,
we had to head for the hills,
but we came back and that
old black muddy Mississippi
brought in about six inches of rich black dirt.
And we planted the cotton the next
year
and it grew taller than it ever
did before.
And when picking time came,
things were a whole lot better.
Well, I got cotton in the bottom
land.
It's up and growing and I got a
good stand.
My good wife and them kids of mine
are going to get new
shoes come picking time.
Get new shoes, come pickin' time
Every night when I go to bed
Thank the Lord that my kids are fed
They live on beans eight days a night
But I'll get them fat, come
pickin' time
Get them fat, come pickin' time
It's hard to see by the coal oil light
And I turn it off pretty early at night
A jug of coal oil cost a dime
But I set up late, come pickin' time
Set up late, come pickin' time
My old wagon barely gets me to town
Patch the wheels and water them down
Keep her in shape so she'll be fine
So haul my cotton, come pickin' time
Haul my cotton, come
pickin' time
Last Sunday morning
when they passed the hat
It was almost empty back where I sat
But the preacher smiled
and he said, that's fine
The Lord will wait till pickin' time
The Lord will wait till pickin' time.