There wasn't nobody that ever liked him farless loved him   If you never got the chance to get to know him you wouldn't thought too much of him   Folks said he was half mean if that was so that's all the mean he had to be   As big as he was   He was my daddy and he raised me   The northeast Arkansas Mississippi County bootlegger   I can't say that all he did in his life was always right   I've heard talk back before I was born that he killed a man in a fight   But all I know about him was how he took care of his own   And some he didn't have to   They'd shun him through the day but at night they'd bow   From the northeast Arkansas Mississippi County bootlegger   [ dobro ]   He was ma daddy and he raised me   The northeast Arkansas Mississippi County bootlegger   My mama used to take me down to the croosroard church on Sunday   The deacons and the ladies would talk about us and how we got our money   But that didn't stop them   When they decided they wanted a brand new sanctuary they came to see mama   And the house of God was paid for   By the northeast Arkansas Mississippi County bootlegger   Now a man can only do the best he can by those he loves   And maybe the livin' he made for us some others were jealous of   The law of the land said he couldn't do it   But there's also the law of supply and demand if it hadn't been him   It might have been someone who wasn't as honest   As the northeast Arkansas Mississippi County bootlegger   Yeah he was a good man when he died I cried   For the northeast Arkansas Mississippi County bootlegger