Another Wingless Bird

I drank from the barrel up in Bowling Green
I floated on water on the Riverboat Queen
I've loved every town in this country I've seen
From the Blue Ridge to the Redwood Valley

I picked up the banjo up in Wichita
I picked though the cotton in East Arkansas
I stayed south 'til spring 'til the north ground would thaw
'Til the wintertime's grand finale

My mother made me promise
When I was seventeen
That I'd never risk it all
For something fickle
As a dream

But I couldn't keep my feet pinned
And I couldn't keep my word
So I took to the road
And the creeks and streams that flowed
But I couldn't fly
Cos I
Was born
Another wingless bird

I saw the smoke rise from those Kentucky mines
I wore out my soles as I crossed county lines
But I never called home with my nickels and dimes
I just kept them warm 'tween my fingers

I wandered the plains and I wandered the hills
I wandered through ghost towns with forgotten mills
And I felt like a ghost and it gave me the chills
When you're gone still the memory lingers

My mother made me promise
When I just a child
That I'd never leave the nest
For things uncertain, vague, and wild

But I couldn't keep my feet pinned
And I couldn't keep my word
So I took to the road
And the creeks and streams that flowed
But I couldn't fly
Cos I
Was born
Another wingless bird

No I'll never fly
Cos I
Was born
Another wingless bird