Hard rain's a fallin', chillin' me to my bones.
Heart dark and black as Kentucky coal.
And there's just one sip left, of life's bitter wine

Come up a steep grade, something's on the other side.
All I know is to keep on, all I know to do is ride.
And there's just one sip left, of life's bitter wine

And I've been tryin' to lose me on someone elses highway.
Sneak out the back door, hope to get away
from the chains and the fetters of their misguided world.
Ones that they left me......when Daddy was a boy,
and Momma was a girl.

Woke up a sad day, I was all the way down.
Raked the leaves from my eyes, took a good look around....
at that one sip left,
of life's better wine.

Green lights are burnin', burnin' for me now.
Gonna chew my own troubles with an unwrinkled brow.
and wash it down, down, down,
with life's bitter wine.

I’ve done a lot of things worth doin'.
I ain't done yet I have to say.
Walked a million miles,
smelled the flowers on the way.

Finished feats I never dreamed of,
poured my heart out in a song.
Learned to love myself,
discovered there's no right or wrong.

Lost my parents and some good friends,
played the Blues, it set me free.
Found that life is hard.
But knowing that, made it so easy.

Won the love of a good woman,
by being just who I am.
No stranger to the pain,
but I'd do it all again.

Made my livin' playin' music.
Even wrote a song or two.
Climbed a mountain, slept out in the rain,
........but I've still got some catchin' up to do.
I've still got some catchin' up to do.

I'm takin' the back road home,
to find some home made apple pie.
Where my dreams are still hangin' on an old rope swing,
and every day is like the fourth of July.
And I'm takin' the back road home.

Sometimes I need to go to the well,
and drink in those lost memories.
Stare into the faces of a faded photograph,
and once again be as young as I please.
And I'm takin' the back road.......

........Home is where it all began,
home is where I go,
when I feel that cold and lonely wind begin to blow.
There's a candle in the window,
a smile on every face.
I'm just in time for supper,
I bow my head for grace.

I'm takin' the back road home,
So I won't lose my way.
Though it's long and winding and it takes more time,
there are rivers to cross and mountains to climb,
and I've been so long away.
And I'm takin' the back road home.