First time he saw the ground get busted 
He was ten and it was 1952 
His daddy worked hard from sunup to sundown 
And the goin' got tough behind them ol' grey mules 

The farm grew to be a moneymaker 
And the house he lived in grew up room by room 
The boy worked hard but soon got tired of farmin' 
So he slipped away one night 'neath the harvest moon 

His neck was red as Alabama clay 
But the city's call pulled him away 
He's got a factory job and runs a big machine 
He don't miss the farm or the fields of green 

Now the city's just a prison without fences 
His job is just a routine he can't stand 
And at night he dreams of wide-open spaces 
Fresh dirt between his toes and on his hands 

Then one day a picture came inside a letter 
Of a young girl with a baby in her arms 
And the words she wrote would change his life forever 
So he went to raise his family on the farm 

His neck is red as Alabama clay 
Now he's goin' home this time to stay 
Where the roots run deep on the family tree 
And the tractor rolls through the fields of green 

His neck is red as Alabama clay 
Now he's goin' home this time to stay 
Where the roots run deep on the family tree 
And the tractor rolls through the fields of green 

His neck is red as Alabama clay