Couldn't tell my teacher my last name when I was in grade school  Stuttered when I talked and everybody laughed at me  I was a boy from across the tracks  I wore hand-me-downs on my back  But I swore that I'd never let the bitters get the best of me    Fell in love with a pretty little girl when I was older  And like a fool, I figured there was something I could make of me  But it wasn't in the cards 'cause her daddy was rich  And it was commonly plain to see  No matter what I did she would never take a likin' to me    But it's all right, it's all right  I come up the hard way and fought a good fight  And it's all right with me  It's all right, it's all right  I come up the hard way and fought a good fight  And it's all right with me    If I'm lucky I still got a few more years of livin'  And lady luck's never been a real good friend to me  I never asked a favour of a man in my life  But the preacher I'm gonna see  And tell him when I die say these words over me    Here lies a man who never asked the world for nothin'  He laboured in the sun and slept in the shade of a tree  His hands was calloused but his heart was warm  For his mind was pure and free  The good Lord knows that's the way a man's got to be    It's all right, it's all right  I come up the hard way and fought a good fight  And it's all right with me  But it's all right, it's all right  I come up the hard way and fought a good fight  And it's all right with me  It's all right, it's all right