Headin' down south to the land of the pines,

I'm thumbin' my way into North Caroline,

starin' up the road and pray to God I see headlights.

I made it down the coast in seventeen hours,

pickin' me a bouquet of dogwood flowers

and I'm a-hopin' for Raleigh, I can see my baby tonight.

So rock me mama like a wagon wheel,

rock me mama any way you feel,

hey, mama rock me.

Rock me mama like the wind and the rain,

rock me mama like a southbound train,

hey, mama rock me.

Runnin' from the cold up in New England,

I was born to be a fiddler in an old time string band,

my baby plays a guitar, I pick a banjo now.

Oh, north country winters keep a-gettin' me down,

lost my money playin' poker, so I had to leave town,

but I ain't a-turnin' back to livin' that old life no more.

Walkin' to the south out of Roanoke,

I caught a trucker out of Philly, had a nice long toke,

but he's a-headin' west from the Cumberland Gap 

to Johnson City, Tennessee.

And I gotta get a move on before the sun,

I hear my baby callin' my name 

and I know that she's the only one,

and if I died in Raleigh, at least I will die free.