First Recollection Poem by Charles Manson

I was in the back of this horse-drawn wagon
Some kids had a bucket over my head
They were poundin' on this bucket
The people drivin' the wagon (Uncle Jess)
Looked over the seat, down at me
And told me to "Shut up the racket"

Then I was in a cabin once
A ghost with no head came to me
With a long butcher knife
Scared my mother
She put that fear off on me
I took that fear and went with my grandmother
I remember ridin' on this train, singin'
"I've been workin' on the railroad"

My grandpa worked on the railroad
The C & O down in Kentucky
Around Big Sandy and Morehead
Up in the Blue Ridge Mountains
Paradise on earth, woods and weeds
We were still a reality
Then grandma told me about Jesus

Tellin' me to give my heart to the Lord
So I did that, just what she told me to do
It was right there by the Federal prison
In a little Nazarene church
I went on down the road from that
With that bucket on my head:
"Shut up that racket Charlie!"