The Hitter Tom Jones

Come to the door Ma, and unlock the chain
I was just passin' through and got caught in the rain
There's nothing I want, nothin' that you need say
Just let me lie down for a while and I'll be on my way?

I was no more than a kid when you put me on the Southern Queen
With the police on my back I fled to New Orleans
I fought in the dockyards and with the money I made
I knew the fight was my home and blood was my trade

Baton Rouge, Poncitoula, and Lafayette town
Well they paid me their money Ma I knocked the men down
I did what I did well it come easily
Restraint and mercy Ma were always strangers to me

I fought champion Jack Thompson in a field full of mud
Rain poured through the tent to the canvas and mixed with our blood
In the twelfth I slipped my tongue over my broken jaw
I stood over him and pounded his bloody body into the floor
Well the bell rang and rang and still I kept on
'Till I felt my glove leather slip 'tween his skin and bone

Then the women and the money came fast and the days I lost track
The women red, the money green, but the numbers were black
I fought for the men in their silk suits to lay down their bets
I took my good share Ma, I have no regrets