Coalman Bonner was a fiddle playin' fool
He was a backwoods rounder and a breaker of mules
Coalman Bonner's got a wor' out bow
He been playin' two days down a new cut road
Now Coalman's little sister said, "You better act right, Coalman
Daddy's going to Louisville, he'll be back tonight
He gonna get another wagon and a good pair of mules
Oh, we gonna move to Texas, we just waitin' on news"
Now Coalman's daddy, he pulled up in the yard
He said, "Back up your lives kids, it's getting too hard
Kentucky's alright but there's too many people
Well, just the other day, I thought I saw a church steeple"
Now Coalman said, "Daddy don't you worry 'bout me
I wanna stay here in Kentucky 'til the day I dee
I'm wanna drink that sour mash, I'm gonna raise that mare
Yeah, I got me a woman with a foxy red hair"
"We all been movin' west since the day he got married
I'm getting off the wagon, I'm too old to be carried
I'm gonna stay in Kentucky where the blue grass grows
I'm gonna play it all night down a new cut road"
Now Coalman's daddy said, "What's it all comin' to?
Young people these days are just stubborn as mules"
He can't make 'em go, he's too old for that
It's that damned ol' fiddle and that bowler hat
Now Coalman's momma said, "Let the boy stay
'Cause he's raised up solid, he can find his own way
But as for me, honey, I'm with you
I always thought Kentucky was just passin' through"
Coalman's little sister, she started in a cry
And his daddy shook his hand for the very last time
Coalman's momma said, "Somebody gotta do it
Wouldn't be no Kentucky, 'less you didn't stick to it, Coalman"
Coalman Bonner stood on the porch of that cabin
Watched 'em all go to Texas in a covered wagon
He pulled out his fiddle and he rosined up his bow
And he played a little tune called New Cut Road