Nobody's ever heard this one.
It's the first time I've sung it.
My parents raised me tenderly,
I was their only son.
My mind got mixed with ramblin',
I was also young.
And I first left my home when I was twelve and one.
I'm a long time a-comin',
Ma,
I'll be a long time gone.
Well,
a western wind,
it blew me on down to the Texas plains.
I could not get a job or work,
cause they said I was too young of age.
My eyes,
they burned up when I learned,
go home where you belong.
I'm a long time a-comin',
I'll be a long time gone.
I remember when I was ramblin' along with the corn of the tree.
Different people,
different times,
they all adored the same.
I remember children's faces best,
I remember ramblin' on.
I'm a long time a-comin',
I'll be a long time gone.
Well,
the highway side,
I tried to flag it right.
With
bloodshot eyes and gritting teeth,
I'd stand there by the side.
The empty air hung in my head,
I'd stand there all alone.
I'm a long time a-comin',
I'll be a long time gone.
I once loved a fair young maid,
I ain't too big to tell.
If she broke my heart a single time,
she broke it ten or twelve.
I walked and talked all by myself,
did not tell no one.
I'm a long time a-comin',
baby,
I'll be a long time gone.
You might see me on your crossroads when I'm passin' through.
Remember me how you wish
to as I'm driftin' from your view.
It don't bother me at all,
I got two months to get
done.
I'm a long time a-comin',
man,
I'll be a long time gone.
If I can help somebody
with a word or a song,
if I can show somebody that they're travelin' wrong.
But I know I
ain't no prophet, I ain't no prophet, son.
I'm just a long time a-comin', I'll be a long
time gone.
You can keep your beauty,
it's skin deep and it only lies.
And you can keep your youth,
it'll only rot before your eyes.
But just give me my gravestone with it carved upon.
I's a long time a-comin',
I'll be a long time gone.
You like that song?
Hmm?
I sort of made up half the words to it right there,
you know.
Just a little bit, a little bit.
I wrote that for myself.
I figured I'd been writing too many songs for other people.
You ain't written no songs about you.
You know, and I said,
they gotta do something about that.
You gotta get somebody to write a song about you.
I write songs.
I can write a song about me just cause anybody else can.