I'm the Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised)

I can't sell my mama short on loving me

I guess that's why she let me go so far

Mama tried to stop me short of stealing

I guess that's why I had to steal that car

She told me not to smoke it

But I did and it took me far away

And I turned out to be

The only hell my mama ever raised

Well, I rolled into Atlanta

Stolen tags and almost out of gas

I had to get some money

And lately I'd learned how to get it fast

Those neon lights was calling me

And somehow I just had to get downtown

So I reached into the glove box

Another liquor store went down

And I said, "Precious memories

Take me back to the good ol' days"

Let me hear my mama singing

"Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me"

She tried to turn me on to Jesus

But I turned on to the devil's ways

And I turned out to be

The only hell my mama ever raised

Well, they put them handcuffs on me

Lord, how I fought to resist

But they just clamped them tighter

'Til that metal bit into my wrists

They took my belt and my billfold

My fingerprints and the profile of my face

And then they locked away

The only hell my mama ever raised

And I said, "Precious memories

Take me back to the good ol' days"

Let me hear my mama singing

"Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me"

She tried to turn me on to Jesus

But I turned on to the devil's ways

And I turned out to be

The only hell my mama ever raised

She tried to turn me on to Jesus

But I turned on to the devil's ways

And I turned out to be

The only hell my mama ever raised