verse 1 
 
B                        
I can't sell my mama short on loving me  

I guess that's why she let me go so far  
E                   
Mama try to stopped me short of stealing  
  B  
I guess that's why I had to steal that car  
B  
She told me not to smoke it  
                             E  
But I did and it took me far away  
    F#    
And I turned out to be  
                           B  
The only hell my mama ever raised  
B  
Well, I rolled into Atlanta, stolen tags and almost out of gas  
  E  
I had to get some money, and lately I'd learned how to get it fast  
      B                                                            E  
Those neon lights was calling me and somehow I just had to get downtown  
     F#                                                    B  
So I reached into the glove box, another liquor store went down  


[Refrão]
            B                                                E  
And I sing 'Precious memories', take me back to the good ol' days  
       F#                                          B  
Let me hear mama singing, 'Rock of ages' cleft for me  
                                                                 E  
She tried to turn me on to Jesus, but I turned on to the devil's ways  
    F#                                            B        C  
And I turned out to be the only hell my mama ever raised  

verse 2  
          C                   
When they put them handcuffs on me, Lord how I fought to resist  
    F  
But agent clamped 'em tighter, 'til that metal bit into my wrist  
             C                                                            F  
They took my belt and my billfold, my fingerprints, and the profile of my face  
G                                                     C  
Then they locked away the only hell my mama ever ever raised  


[Refrão]
            C                                                F  
And I sing 'Precious memories', take me back to the good ol' days  
       G                                           C  
Let me hear mama singing, 'Rock of ages' cleft for me  
                                                                 F  
She tried to turn me on to Jesus, but I turned on to the devil's ways  
    G                                             C      C#  
And I turned out to be the only hell my mama ever raised  
             C#                                                  F#  
She tried to turn me on to Jesus, but I turned on to the devil's ways  
    G#                                            C#  
And I turned out to be the only hell my mama ever raised