If I had a dime for every time
I heard my old man say one of these days
I wouldn't be like my old man today
Talking 'bout places that he'd been
Back in his younger days that he was gonna go back
To again one of these days
Dropped out of school when he was just sixteen
Fell right in to a tire plant
Building the very things that make the asphalt sing
And put Alabama far behind you
I remember him saying that
Chicago was a hell right here on earth
And twenty five years later
I was saying the same thing about Memphis
It's no wonder everybody's scared of downtown Birmingham
It's just a little too close to home
But there's more crooks down here and the cops don't care
While old white men wearing ties can do anything they want
Once a country boy's seen the way the steam rises
Off a man's insides on the sidewalk
Tends to change the way he thinks, the way he sees everything
And he goes back to where he came from
One of these days when my face looks like a road map
Gonna find my way back home
And I'll go walking on the west side after dark
And leave my gun locked in my car
One of these days you'll take one look at me and run
One of these days you'll take one look at me and run