Born in Arkansas Mississippi river at my backdoor
If that black land was so doggone rich how come we were so poor
Pick that cotton in daytime pick guitar at night
Daddy said hon keep on picking everything’s gonna be all right

Be all right in Arkansas
We'll have shoes for to school new clothes too
And go to the fair next fall
Be all right in Arkansas
Everything's gonna be all right in Arkansas

Seemed like every year something happened to the cotton crop
If drought didn't wipe us out there were rains that never stopped
Clouds came up that morning river came up that night
Daddy said pack up the pickup hon everything’s gonna be all right

Stayed away till the river went down and then we went back home
That black land was just black mud and all our cotton was gone
Can't forget how daddy looked the day I saw him cry
But through his tears he said next year everything’s gonna be all right