Patches
Bruce Cockburn

I was born and raised down in Alabama
On a farm way back up in the woods
I was so ragged that folks used to call me Patches

Papa used to tease me about it
'Cause deep down inside he was hurt
'Cause he'd done all he could

My papa was a great old man
I can see him with a shovel in his hands, see
Education he never had

He did wonders when the times got bad
The little money from the crops he raised
Barely paid the bills we made

For, life had kick him down to the ground
When he tried to get up
Life would kick him back down

One day papa called me to his dyin' bed
Put his hands on my shoulders
And in his tears he said

He said, Patches
I'm dependin' on you, son
To pull the family through
My son, it's all left up to you

Two days later papa passed away
And I became a man that day
So I told mama I was gonna quit school
But she said that was daddy's strictest rule

So every mornin' 'fore I went to school
I fed the chickens and I chopped wood too
Sometimes I felt that I couldn't go on

I wanted to leave, just run away from home
But I would remember what my daddy said
With tears in his eyes on his dyin' bed

He said, Patches
I'm dependin' on you, son
I tried to do my best
It's up to you to do the rest

Then one day a strong rain came and washed all the crops away
And at the age of thirteen I thought I was carryin'
The weight of the whole world on my shoulders
And you know, Mama knew what I was goin' through, 'cause

Every day I had to work the fields
'Cause that's the only way we got our meals
See, I was the oldest of the family
And everybody else depended on me

Every night I heard my mama pray
Lord, give him the strength
To make another day

So years have passed and all the kids are grown
The angels took mama to a brand new home
Lord knows, people, I shedded tears
But my daddy's voice kept me through the years

Sing, Patches
I'm dependin' on you, son
To pull the family through
My son, it's all left up to you

Oh, I can still hear papa's voice sayin', Patches
I'm dependin' on you, son
I've tried to do my best
It's up to you to do the rest


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Lyrics by Bruce Cockburn

  12 String Warm-Up/The Trains Don't Run Here Anymor...   13th Mountain   A Dream Like Mine   A Life Story   A Long-Time Love Song   A Montreal Song   Actions Speak Louder   After The Rain   All Our Dark Tomorrows   All The Diamonds In The World   All The Ways I Want You   All's Quiet On The Inner City Front   All's Quiet On The Inner City Front   Always Look on the Bright Side of Life   And We Dance   Anything Anytime Anywhere   Anything Can Happen   Arrows Of Light   Avalon, My Home Town   Badlands Flashback   Badlands Flashback   Bearded Folksinger   Beautiful Creatures   Berlin Tonight   Bicycle Trip   Birmingham Shadows   Blueberry Hill   Bone In My Ear   Boundless   Bright Sky   Broken Wheel   Burden Of The Angel, Beast   Burn   Cader Idris [Instrumental]   Call It Democracy   Call Me Rose   Can I Go With You   Candy Man's Gone   Candy Man's Gone   Celestial Horses   Change Your Mind   Child of the Wind   Christmas Song   Civilization And Its Discontents   Clocks Don't Bring Tomorrow, Knives Don't Bring Go...   Closer To The Light   Creation Dream   Cry Of A Tiny Babe   Déjà Vu   Dancing In Paradise   Deep Lake   Deer Dancing Round a Broken Mirror [Instrumental]   Deja Vu   Dialogue With The Devil   Dialogue With The Devil (Or Why Don't We Celebrate...   Different When It Comes To You   Don't Feel Your Touch   Don't Forget About Delight   Don't Have To Tell You Why   Don't Feel Your Touch   Don't Forget About Delight   Don't Have To Tell You Why   Down Here Tonight   Down In Yon Forest   Down to the Delta   Driving Away   Dust And Diesel   Dweller By A Dark Stream   Early On One Christmas Morn   Embers of Eden   Embers Of Eden, The   Everywhere Dance   Facist Architecture   Fall   Fascist Architecture   Fascist Architecture [Architecture Fasciste]   Feast Of Fools   Feet Fall On The Road   Festival Of Friends   Five Fifty-One   For The Birds   Foxglove   Free To Be   Gavin's Woodpile   Gavin's Woodpile   Get Up Jonah   Gifts   Go Tell It On The Mountain   God Bless The Children   God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen   God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen   God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen   Going To The Country   Going Up Against Chaos   Golden Serpent Blues   Gospel Of Bondage   Great Big Love   Grim Travellers   Grim Travellers [Live][*]   Grim Travellers [Sombres Voyageurs]   Guerilla Betrayed   Guerrilla Betrayed   Hand-Dancing   Happy Good Morning Blues   He Came From The Mountain   High Winds White Sky   Hills Of Morning   Homme Brulant   Hoop Dancer   How I Spent My Fall Vacation   I Saw Three Ships   I Wanna Dance With You   I'm Gonna Fly Some Day   I'm Gonna Fly Some Day   Iesus Ahatonnia (The Huron Carol)   If A Tree Falls   If I Had A Rocket Launcher   If I Had a Rocket Launcher [*]   In The Falling Dark   Incandescent Blue   Indian Wars   Islands in a Black Sky   Isn't That What Friends Are For?   Isn't That What Friends Are For?   It Came Upon a Midnight Clear   It Came Upon The Midnight Clear   It Come Upon The Midnight Clear   It Won't Be Long   It Won't Be Long   It's An Elephants World   It's Going Down Slow   It's Going Down Slow   January In The Halifax Airport Lounge   Joy to the World   Joy Will Find A Way   Justice   Keep It Open   Kit Carson   Lament For The Last Days   Last Night Of The World   Laughter   Les Anges Dans Nos Campagnes   Let The Bad Air Out   Let Us Go Laughing   Life Short Call Now   Life Short Call Now [Ça Presse - Appele Tout D...   Life Will Open   Life's Mistress   Life's Mistress   Lily of the Midnight Sky   Listen For The Laugh   Little Seahorse   Live On My Mind   Loner   Look How Far   Lord Of The Starfields   Love Loves You Too   Love Song   Lovers In A Dangerous Time   Making Contact   Mama Just Wants To Barrelhouse All Night Long   Man of a Thousand Faces   Mango   Mary Had A Baby   Maybe The Poet   Messenger Wind   Mighty Trucks Of Midnight   Mistress of Storms   More Not More   More Not More [Encore/Moins]   Musical Friends   My Beat   My Lady And My Lord   My Lady And My Lord [Solo Version] [*][Version]   My Lady and My Lord [Solo Version][*]   Mystery   Mystery [Mystère]   Nanzen Ji   Never So Free   Nicaragua   Night Train   No Footprints   Northern Lights   Nude Descending a Staircase   O Little Town Of Bethlehem   One Day I Walk   One of the Best Ones   Open   Open [Ouvert]   Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand   Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand...   Pacing The Cage   Pangs Of Love   Peace March   Peggy's Kitchen Wall   Peggy's Kitchen Wall   People See Through You   Planet Of The Clowns   Postcards From Cambodia   Prenons La Mer   Put It In Your Heart   Put Our Hearts Together   Radiance   Radium Rain   Rainfall   Red Brother Red Sister   Rise and Fall   Riu Riu Chiu   Rouler Sa Bosse   Rumours Of Glory   Sahara Gold   Salt Sun and Time   Salt, Sun and Time   Santiago Dawn   Scanning These Crowds   See How I Miss You   See You Tomorrow   See You Tomorrow [À Demain]   Seeds on the Wind   Shepherds   Shining Mountain   Shipwrecked At The Stable Door   Silent Night   Silver Wheels   Skylarking   Slow Down Fast   Slow Down Fast [Modère Vite]   Somebody Touched Me   Someone I Used To Love   Soul of a Man   Southland of the Heart   Spring Song   Stained Glass   Starwheel   Stolen Land   Strange Waters   Strong Hand of Love   Sunrise on the Mississippi   Sunwheel Dance   Tell The Universe   The Bicycle Trip   The Blues Got The World   The Blues Got The World...   The Charity Of Night   The City Is Hungry   The Coldest Night Of The Year   The Coming Rains   The Gift   The Iris Of The World   The Light Goes On Forever   The Mines Of Mozambique   The Pipes. The Pipes. [Instrumental]   The Rose Above The Sky   The Rose Above the Sky [La Rose Au-Dessus du Ciel]   The Strong One   The Thirteenth Mountain   The Trouble With Normal   The Whole Night Sky   This Is Baghdad   Thoughts On A Rainy Afternoon   Tibetan Side Of Town   Tie Me At The Crossroads   To Fit In My Heart   To Raise The Morning Star   Together Alone   Tokyo   Totem Pole   Train in the Rain   Tramps In The Street   Trickle Down   Tried And Tested   Tried And Tested [Éprouvé Et SuréprouvÃ...   Tropic Moon   Understanding Nothing   Up On The Hillside   Use Me While You Can   Vagabondage   Wait No More   Waiting For A Miracle   Waiting For The Moon   Wanna Go Walking   What About The Bond   What About the Bond [et le Lien Alors]   What About The Bond?   When The Sun Falls   When The Sun Goes Nova   When You Give It Away   Where The Death Squad Lives   Wise Users   Wondering Where The Lions Are   World Of Wonders   Yanqui Go Home   You Don't Have To Play The Horses   You Don't Have To Play The Horses   You Get Bigger As You Go   You Pay Your Money And You Take Your Chance   You Point To The Sky   You've Never Seen Everything   You've Never Seen Everything

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