I was born and raised
down in Alabama on a farm
Way back up in the woods
Boy I was so ragged
Folks used to call me Patches
Papa used to tease me about it
But deep down inside
Dad was hurtin' 'cause he'd
done the best he could
My Papa was a great old man
I can see him with a
shovel in his hand
Education that he never had
But he did wonders when the
times got bad
The little money from the
crops we raised
Barely paid the bills we made
Oh life
It put him down in the ground
When he tried to get up
Life would kick him back down
On the day
Papa called me to his dyin' bed
Placed his hand on my
shoulders and in tears he said
Patches
I'm dependin' on you Son
to pull the family through
My Son
It's all left up to you
Two days later
Papa passed away
And I became a man that day
So everyday I had to
work the fields
'Cause that's the only way we
got our meals
See I was the oldest
of the family
And everybody was
depending on me
Now years have past
And everybody's grown
Mama's been livin' in a
brand new home
Lord knows it took a lot of
sweat and tears
And my Daddy's voice to help
us through the years
He said Patches
I'm dependin' on you Son
to pull the family through
My Son
It's all left up to you
Daddy had been sick for a
long time
Flat on his back
Every evenin' after we'd finish
our chores and eat our dinner
We'd all go into Papa's room
to cheer him up a little
And this particular day
Dad was in good spirits
Sittin' on the side of the bed
Tellin' Mama how good
she looked
When all of the sudden
Papa had a pain in his chest
I was too young to understand
Talkin' about a
heart attack here
Mama rushed us all out of the
room into the hallway
About ten minutes later she
came out with tears in her eyes
She called out to me
Patches Patches
Get in here boy
Your Daddy wanta see ya
I went runnin' into Papa's room
There Papa lay
Daddy had tears in his eyes
I knew somethin' was wrong
'Cause Daddy was a poor man
But all of my life
He'd been a proud man
I knelt down on one knee
beside the bed
Papa put his hand on
my shoulder
He said Patches Patches boy
The hammer of life done
beat your old Papa down
into the ground
And I ain't got nobody to
turn to
to take care of Mama and
the youngin'
So what I want you to do is
promise me Son
Is that you're gonna do your
best to help your Mama as
much as you can
I said Papa
I'm gonna do my best
But little did I know then
like I know now
That tryin' to climb
life's mountain
Searchin' for a top
Where there ain't no top
Sometimes you find yourself
frustrated
Lazy
But every time I feel like
I can't live my life like
I want to
My mind goes back to that
days when I see those tears
in my Daddy's eyes
But most of all
I remember his words
Patches
I'm depending on you boy
Every time I feel like I'm
givin' up I hear his voice
Patches
Patches
Patches
Patches
I'm depending on you Son
I've tried to do my best
It's up to you to do the rest
Patches
I'm depending on you Son
I've tried to do my best
It's up to you to do the rest
Patches
I'm depending on you Son
to pull the family through
My Son it's all left up to you
Patches
I'm depending on you Son
I've tried to do my best
It's up to you to do the rest
Patches
I'm depending on you Son
to pull the family through
My Son it's all left up to you
Patches
I'm depending on you Son
I've tried to do my best
It's up to you to do the rest