C
Those cotton fields were hot
                                      F
And that tractor never was my kind of livin'
    D7
And when I hit sixteen, I had my size
                      G
And I hit the road to freedom
        Em                            C
And I'm glad I wasn't there to see my mama
           C7                  F
'Cause she must have cried for hours
        C
I still hear her saying to me
         G                            C
Get your guitar and pick the wildwood flower

[Verse 2]
C
Now Memphis it was big,
                                        F
And it was hard to find a job, and so I didn't
    D7
and it was easier to go back to the country
                     G
and it was more like livin'
          Em
Now, I've been down every road
         C               C7                   F
And I've stood on every porch where they were givin'
            C
And if they had a dime,
           G                          C
or an hour, I would pick the wildwood flower

[Verse 3]
C
It's hard to turn around,
                                         F
And look back down the roads that I have travelled
       D7
'Cause like a never-ending ball of twine
                      G
My dreams have come unravelled
           Em
And now as evening lays it's shawl,
           C              C7       F
Across the shoulders of my life, I find
           C
I couldn't tie my life together
     G                                      C
With guitar strings and a poet's heart felt line

[Outro]
        Em                            C
And I'm glad I wasn't there to see my mama
           C7                  F
'Cause she must have cried for hours
        C
I still hear her saying to me
    G                                 C
Get your guitar and pick the wildwood flower