I can't sell my mama short on loving me   I guess that's why she let me go so far   Mama try to stopped 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 sing 'Precious memories', take me back to the good ol' days   Let me hear 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      When they put them handcuffs on me, Lord how I fought to resist   But agent clamped 'em tighter, 'til that metal bit into my wrist   They took my belt and my billfold, my fingerprints, and the profile of my face   Then they locked away the only hell my mama ever ever raised      And I sing 'Precious memories', take me back to the good ol' days   Let me hear 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