Johnny Cash - Orphan Of The Road lyrics

From a carny show and a rodeo
That shared a three day stand
A cowboy met a fiery carny queen
In new spring nights amid the lights
Of the painted carny van
They laughed and loved and
Shared short-lived dreams
But the carny show and the
Rodeo went their separate ways
And the carny season bloomed
And soon moved on and I was born on a winter
Morn to the dark-eyed carny queen
The too late son of something that was gone
The black-sheep child that grew up wild from
The seed the four winds sowed
Unwanted son of ice and fire
An orphan of the road
I was still a child when my mama died
Of a chill that closed her eyes
So I was left to grow up on my own
Without a name
Too wild to tame no one cared to try
So mostly I was mostly left alone
In dingy bars and cold boxcars
Hobo jungle camps
I joined the men who drift from town to town
The surging flood of restless blood
Flowed inside my veins
I'd never find the time to settle down
The black-sheep child in the misty rain
I caught the train that slowed
Down through the town
And I pulled myself into the boxcar door
In a passing light in the deep gray night
I saw the still dark form
Of an old man lying sick upon the floor
And he said "I tried to find her
But they told me that she'd died
And that she'd left an only son behind
And I tried to find him, but I never did
But I know I could rest in peace
If I could just see him once before I die
I found a match and I quickly scratched
It into a flicker and flame
Then I held it close and
I gently raised his head
My mother, sir" I said of her
"I have her same dark eyes
He smiled a cowboy smile and then was dead
The black-sheep child