Come to the door Ma, and unlock the I was just through, I got caught in the rain nothing I want, nothin that you need say Just let me lay down for a and Ill be on my way
I was no more a kid, when you put me on. the Southern Queen the police on my back, I fled all the way down to New Orleans I in the dockyards, and with the money I made I knew the fight was my home, and was my trade
Baton Rouge, Ponchitoula, and town Well, they paid me money Ma, and I knocked the men down I did I did, well it came easily and mercy Ma were always strangers to me
I fought champion Jack Thompson, in a field of mud The rain poured through the tent,and mixed with our blood In the twelfth I slipped my tongue, over my jaw and I stood him, I pounded his bloody body, into the floor Well the bell rang and rang, and I kept on and on and on I felt my glove leather, slip between his skin and bone
Then the and the money came fast and the days I lost track The red, the money green, but the numbers were black I fought for the men in silk suits, to lay down their bets I took my good share Ma, ya see I, I have no
Then I took the fix at the armory, with big John McDowell oh, From high in the rafters, I watched myself As raised his arm my stomach twisted. and the sky it went black I stuffed my bag with their good money ma, and I looked back
So understand, in the end Ma, man plays the game If you know me one different, then out his name Ma, if my now, now you dont recognize Then open the door, and look into your dark eyes I ask of you nothin, not a kiss, not a smile, open the door and let me lay down for a while
Now the gray rain is fallin, my ring fightins So in the fields and alleys,ya see I, I take all who come If youre a better man than me, then on, and step up to the line, step to the line Show me your money , and speak out crime
Now nothin I want Ma, nothin that you need say let me lay down for a while and Ill be on my way
Tonight in a shipyard, a man draws a circle in the I to the center, and I take off my shirt I him for the cuts, the scars, the pain, Man no time can I move hard to the left, and I to the face