"I Never Picked Cotton" is a song made famous by

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer Roy Clark. Written by Bobby George and Charlie Williams, the song was released in 1970 as the title track to the album released that same year. The song peaked at No. 5 on the ''

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Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...

chart that summer. Charlie Williams wrote several songs that Roy Clark recorded, including "Right or Left at Oak Street."

Song plot

The story is told in

first-person narrative A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-telle ...

from the perspective of an Oklahoma native, the youngest of three children from a destitute

sharecropping Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

family. In the song's chorus, the protagonist recalls how his mother, brother and sister all picked cotton while his dad, a coal miner, suffered an untimely death. In the first verse, the man recalls his family's past and his own upbringing, and swore to himself that once he was old enough he would leave the farm and his family behind. He eventually made good on his promise in the second verse, stealing ten dollars and a pick-up truck and absconding from his homestead, never to return. From then on the man lived a hedonistic lifestyle replete with "fast cars and whiskey, long-haired girls and fun", which he financed through

armed robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

("I had everything that money could bring, and I took it all with a gun"). In the final verse, the man's reckless lifestyle culminates in

aggravated murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

while in

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

when he kills a

redneck ''Redneck'' is a derogatory term chiefly, but not exclusively, applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the Southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, ' ...

who insults him. Arrested and convicted for the crime, the man is sentenced to death by hanging, and the night before his execution, he reflects on his decadent life and notes that, "In the time I've got, there ain't a hell of a lot that I can look back on with pride", except that he kept his promise to himself to "never pick cotton".

Cover versions

A cover version of "I Never Picked Cotton" was recorded by Johnny Cash for his 1996 album '' Unchained''.

Chart positions

Roy Clark version

References

*Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs: 1944-2005," 2006. * Allmusic — ''I Never Picked Cotton'' by Roy Clark {{Authority control 1970 singles Roy Clark songs Songs about labor