Daddy worked a dollar 25 till he died
Company paid the undertaker, uh mama cried
Jesus what's gonna happen now, she started to pray
Jesus said: You'll be shovlin' coal till your dyin' day
In Birmingham Alabama, In Birmingham Alabama

Sister called last Cremacy from old New Orleans
Telling us she's a working girl, you know what she mean
County said little brother
Have to start school comes the fall
Tell he gets him a pair of shoes
Won't be no school at all
In Birmingham Alabama
In Birmingham Alabama

Mama tell me get yourself a wife
Being alone ain't no fun
More then likely mother knows
Her days are about gone
Nobody's home now to take care for her child
Children havin' a way of getting older after awhile
In Birmingham Alabama, In Birmingham Alabama