My driftin' memory goes back to the spring of '43 When I was just a child in mama's arms My daddy plowed the ground and prayed That someday we could leave This run down mortgaged Oklahoma farm And then one night I heard my daddy sayin' to my mama That he finally saved enough for us to go California was his dream, a paradise for he had seen Lots of pretty girls in magazines that told him so California cotton fields Where labor camps were filled with worried man with broken dreams California cotton fields As close to wealth as daddy ever came ♪ Well, almost everything we had was sold or left behind From my daddy's plow to the fruit that mama canned Some folks came to say farewell and see what all we had to sell Some just came to shake my daddy's hand Well, the Model A was loaded down and California bound And a change of luck was just four days away, yeah But the only change that I remember seeing for my daddy Was when his dark hair turned to silver-grey California cotton fields Where labor camps were filled with worried man with broken dreams California cotton fields As close to wealth as daddy ever came ♪ Thank you very much, thank you Anyway we're gonna leave you now with a song Well, we're leaving anyway Six days on the road And we're gonna make it to Philadelphia tonight? Yes, we are Yeah, come on down to Philadelphia, it's a nice place