[Intro]
E D A
[Verse 1]
E
Well I caught my wife with another man
D A E
And it cost me ninety-nine
E
On a prison farm in Georgia
B
Close to the Florida line
E
Well I’ve been here for two long years
D A E
I finally made the warden my friend
E
And so he sentenced me to a life of ease
B E
Taking care of Ol’ Red
[Verse 2]
(same chords as verse 1)
Now Ol’ Red he’s the damndest dog
That I’ve ever seen
Got a nose that can smell a two day trail
He’s a four legged tracking machine
You can consider yourself mighty lucky to get past
The gators and the quicksand beds
But all these years that I been here
Ain’t nobody got past Red
[Chorus]
E
And the warden sang,
E7 E E7 E
Come on somebody why don’t you run
E7 E B E
Ol’ Red’s itchin to have a little fun
E7 E E7 E
Get my lantern, get my gun
E7 E B E
Red’ll have you treed ‘fore the morning comes
[Instrumental]
E D A
[Verse 3]
(same chords as verse 1)
Well I paid off the guard and I slipped out a letter
To my cousin up in Tennessee
Oh and he brought down a blue tick hound
She was pretty as she could be
Well the penned her up in the swampland
About a mile just south of the gate
And I’d take Ol’ Red for his evening run
I’d just drop him off and wait
[Chorus]
E
And the warden sang,
E7 E E7 E
Come on somebody why don’t you run
E7 E B E
Ol’ Red’s itchin to have a little fun
E7 E E7 E
Get my lantern, get my gun
E7 E B E
Red’ll have you treed ‘fore the morning comes
[Instrumental]
E D A
[Verse 4]
(same chords as verse 1)
Now Ol’ Red got real used to seeing
His lady every night
And so I kept him away for three or four days
And waited til the time got right
Well I made my run with the evening sun
And I smiled when I heard ‘em turn Red out
Cause I was headed north to Tennessee
And Ol’ Red was headed south
[Chorus]
E
And the warden sang,
E7 E E7 E
Come on somebody why don’t you run
E7 E B E
Ol’ Red’s itchin to have a little fun
E7 E E7 E
Get my lantern, get my gun
E7 E B E
Red’ll have you treed ‘fore the morning comes
[Instrumental]
E D A
[Outro]
E
Now there’s red hair blue ticks all in the south
E B E
Love got me in here and love got me out
