Heading down south to the land of the pines I’m thumbing my way into North Caroline Staring up the road I pray to God I see headlights I made down the coast in seventeen hours Picking me a bouquet of dogwood flowers And I’m hoping for Raleigh, I can see my baby tonight So rock me mama like a wagon wheel Rock me mama any way you feel, Hey mama rock me Rock me mama like the wind and the rain Rock me mama like a south bound train, Hey mama rock me Running from the cold up in New England I was born to be a fiddler in an old time string band My baby plays a guitar, I pick a banjo now Oh, the north country winters keep a getting me now I lost my money playing poker so I had to up and leave But I ain’t going back to living that old life no more Walkin’ to the south out of Roanoke I caught a trucker out of Philly, had a nice long toke But he’s heading west from the Cumberland gap to Johnson City, Tennessee And I gotta get a move on before the sun I hear my baby calling my name and I know that she’s the only one And if I die in Raleigh, at least I will die free