What's your mama's name, child?
Him ask a little green eyed girl
What's your mama's name, child?
People never took the time
What's your mama's name, child?
The county had to claim
What's your mama's name?
Askin' 'bout a rose
They found a faded letter
A year and some odd days ago
Does she ever talk about
What's your mama's name, child?
What's your mama's name?
A drunkard down in Memphis
What's your mama's name?
Has she ever mentioned
Lost a month of life
Does she ever talk about
What's your mama's name?
That said you have a daughter
Has she ever mentioned
And her eyes are Wilson green
An old man died in Memphis
And offered her
A man named Buford Wilson
Inside the old man's ragged coat
Just another wayward soul
A place called New Orleans
That used to blossom in his world
A place called New Orleans
Just because he asked
And labored to the country jail
To mind the young man's questions
A young man came to Memphis
Till one day they heard
Thirty some odd years ago
A little green eyed girl a question
Twenty some odd years ago
A nickel's worth of candy if she'd tell
A man named Buford Wilson
What's your mama's name, child?
