I was raised on cornbread and gravy
And I slept in a cardboard box till I was nearly three
I bathed myself in the muddy river running by our shack
By the time that I had reached thirteen I'd been through hell and back
I've been thrown from pillar to post
I've been banged around and scarred
I've done so much I've seen so much
And I've lived so fast and hard
Mama died when I was young and I never knew my dad
I never had the love and care that other children had
I spent five years in an orphan's home but I ran off one day
And I hoboed an old freight train to San Francisco Bay
I've fought in the war I've been in jail
There ain't much I ain't done
I'd lived as much as any man
Before I was twenty one
I've been thrown from pillar to post
I've been banged around and scarred
I've done so much I've seen so much
And I've lived so fast and hard