Couldn't tell my teacher my last name when I was in gradeschool 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 ofme 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