Big Muddy rancher
Well-known member
he plot of "I Never Picked Cotton" is told in first-person, mostly in flashback from the perspective of a native of a poor sharecropping family in the Southern United States.
In the first verse, the song's protagonist — the youngest son of a coal miner — bitterly recalls his family's past and upbringing. He recalls how his mother and siblings picked cotton to support the family, and that his "daddy died young workin' in the coal mine." As a young boy, the main protagonist (at this point, too young to legally or physically work on a cotton plantation) is able to see how his family worked to the point of exhaustion. Seeing that this is not the type of life he wants to live, the boy resolves that when he is old enough to do so, he will leave the farm and his family, and "never stay a single day in that Oklahoma sun."
One night, presumably when he is in his late teens or early adulthood, the protagonist makes good on his vow, stealing $10 and a pickup truck and leaving a life of back-breaking work on the cotton plantation behind. Then, as he points out, "it was fast cars and whiskey, long haired girls and fun. I had everything that money could bring ... and I took it all with a gun."
The latter incident, which takes place on a Saturday night in Memphis, Tennessee, has the protagonist getting into a fight with a local redneck, who insults the man's origins and tells him to "go back to your cotton sack." The heckler is killed, and the song's protagonist, fingered as the killer, is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging.
Now, just hours before he is sentenced to die, the protagonist reflects on his life. He notes that, "in the time I got, there ain't a hell of a lot, that I can look back on with pride ... But I never picked cotton, like my mother did, and my brother did, and my sister did and I'll never die young, workin' in the coal mine."
[edit] Cover versions
A cover version of "I Never Picked Cotton" was recorded by Johnny Cash for his 1996 album Unchained.
I got to thinking about this and it was Roy Clark that made it most famous.
In the first verse, the song's protagonist — the youngest son of a coal miner — bitterly recalls his family's past and upbringing. He recalls how his mother and siblings picked cotton to support the family, and that his "daddy died young workin' in the coal mine." As a young boy, the main protagonist (at this point, too young to legally or physically work on a cotton plantation) is able to see how his family worked to the point of exhaustion. Seeing that this is not the type of life he wants to live, the boy resolves that when he is old enough to do so, he will leave the farm and his family, and "never stay a single day in that Oklahoma sun."
One night, presumably when he is in his late teens or early adulthood, the protagonist makes good on his vow, stealing $10 and a pickup truck and leaving a life of back-breaking work on the cotton plantation behind. Then, as he points out, "it was fast cars and whiskey, long haired girls and fun. I had everything that money could bring ... and I took it all with a gun."
The latter incident, which takes place on a Saturday night in Memphis, Tennessee, has the protagonist getting into a fight with a local redneck, who insults the man's origins and tells him to "go back to your cotton sack." The heckler is killed, and the song's protagonist, fingered as the killer, is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging.
Now, just hours before he is sentenced to die, the protagonist reflects on his life. He notes that, "in the time I got, there ain't a hell of a lot, that I can look back on with pride ... But I never picked cotton, like my mother did, and my brother did, and my sister did and I'll never die young, workin' in the coal mine."
[edit] Cover versions
A cover version of "I Never Picked Cotton" was recorded by Johnny Cash for his 1996 album Unchained.
I got to thinking about this and it was Roy Clark that made it most famous.
