Come to the door Ma, and the chain I was just through, I got caught in the rain nothing I want, nothin that you need say Just let me lay for a while and Ill be on my way
I was no more than a kid, when you put me on. the 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 the fight was my home, and blood 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 Restraint and Ma were always strangers to me
I fought champion Thompson, in a field full of mud The rain poured through the canvas tent,and mixed our blood In the twelfth I my tongue, over my broken jaw and I stood over him, I his bloody body, right into the Well the bell rang and rang, and still I on and on and on Till I felt my glove leather, slip between his and bone
the women and the money came fast and the days I lost track The women red, the money green, but the numbers black I fought for the men in their suits, to lay down their bets I took my share Ma, ya see I, I have no regrets
Then I took the fix at the state armory, with big John oh, From high in the rafters, I watched myself As they raised his arm my twisted. and the sky it went black I stuffed my bag with their money ma, and I never looked back
So understand, in the end Ma, man plays the game If you me one different, then speak out his name Ma, if my voice now, now you recognize Then just open the door, and look into dark eyes I ask of you nothin, not a kiss, not a smile, Just open the and let me lay down for a while
Now the gray rain is fallin, my ring done So in the fields and alleys,ya see I, I take all who come If youre a better man me, then come on, and step up to the line, right to the line me your money , and speak out your crime
Now nothin I want Ma, nothin that you need say Just let me lay down for a and Ill be on my way
Tonight in a shipyard, a man a circle in the dirt I move to the center, and I off my shirt I him for the cuts, the scars, the pain, Man no time can I move hard to the left, and I strike to the