I WAS YOUNG WHEN I LEFT HOME
(Bob Dylan)

G'
  I was young when I left home,
               D    G    C
  And I been a-rambling 'round,
        D
  And I never wrote a letter to my home,
        G     G'    D  G  C
  To my home, Lord, to my home,
        D                          G'
  And I never wrote a letter to my home.

It was just the other day,
I was bringing home my pay
When I met an old friend I used to know.
Said, "Your mother's dead and gone,
Baby sister's all gone wrong
And your daddy needs you home right away."

Not a shirt on my back,
Not a penny on my name.
But I can't go home this-a-way.
This-a-way, Lord, Lord, Lord.
And I can't go home this-a-way.

If you miss the train I'm on,
Count the days I'm gone.
You will hear that whistle blow a hundred miles.
Hundred miles, honey baby, Lord, Lord, Lord,
And you'll hear that whistle blow a hundred miles.

I'm playing on a track,
Ma would come and whoop me back,
On them trestles down by old Jim McKay's.
When I pay the debt I owe
To the commissary store,
I will pawn my watch and chain and go home.
Go home, Lord Lord Lord.
I will pawn my watch and chain and go home.

Used to tell ma sometimes
When I see them riding blind,
Gonna make me a home out in the wind.
In the wind, Lord, in the wind.
Make me a home out in the wind.

I don't like it in the wind,
I'd go back home again,
But I can't go home this-a-way.
This-a-way, Lord, Lord, Lord,
And I can't go home this-a-way.

I was young when I left home
And I been all rambling 'round.
And I never wrote a letter to my home.
To my home, Lord, Lord, Lord.
And I never wrote a letter to my home.

[Recorded on the "Minnesota Hotel Tape" (Dec 22, 1961)]