Last night I went to sleep in Detroit City
And I dreamed about those cottonfields and home
I dreamed about my mother, dear old papa, sister and brother
I dreamed about that girl, who's been waiting for so long
I wanna go home, I wanna go home, oh how I wanna go home
Homefolks think I'm big in Detroit City
From the letters that I write they think I'm fine
By day I make the cars, by night I make the bars
If only they could read between the lines
'Cause you know I rode the freight train north to Detroit City
And after all these years I find, I've just been wastin' my time
So I just think I'll take my foolish pride
Put it on a Southbound freight and ride
And go on back to the loved ones, the ones that I left waitin' so far behind
I wanna go home, I wanna go home, oh how I wanna go home
Song....
Very little is written about the white people moving North to get jobs, compared to the Great Migration as it is called for black people moving to Chicago and Detroit along with the Delta Blues music and folk songs.
At one time Ypsilanti, Michigan was called “Ypsitucky” due to nearly half the residents being auto industry workers or B-24 bomber factory ones being from Kentucky and other states. The WWII Arsenal of Democracy region surrounding the Detroit area. The other 28% were black people from southern states.