Born on the hudson, twenty-two years gone   Bred and raised in the city   From my daddy's knee I learned the union songs   But grandma sang lullabies of dixie   And though the northern winter fills my heart with joy   Oh it's a southern sun that shines down   On this yankee boy      Mama dreamed of paris nights   And boatin' on the seine   She said, we're gonna make it there too   Soon as papa comes home again   And she'd speak to me in broken french   Dressed like a painting of lautrec's   In the night she'd clutch me to her breast   And say, we'll make it outta here yet   And though parisian women   Strut so fine down the eiffel mall   It's a southern one I sing my songs for      Well with the local bunch of do-good boys   And an old man from the west   We crossed the land in the caravan   Yes we traveled with the best   With circus acts and vaudeville hacks   And the mississippi delta queen   She told me the news and sold me her blues   In an alley in new orleans   And though the western plains are still stained   With the blood of great cowboys   It's a southern sun   That shine down on this yankee boy