Lyrics
Well, I caught my wife with another man, and it cost me 99
On a prison farm in Georgia, close to the Florida line
Well, I'd been here for two long years
I finally made the warden my friend
And so he sentenced me to a life of ease
Taking care of Ol' Red
Now Ol' Red, he's the damnedest 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've been here
Ain't nobody got past Red
And the warden sang
Come on somebody
Why don't you run?
Ol' Red's itchin' to have a little fun
Get my lantern, get my gun
Red'll have you treed before the mornin' comes
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, they penned her up in the swampland
'Bout 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
And the warden sang
Come on somebody
Why don't you run?
Ol' Red's itchin' to have a little fun
Get my lantern, get my gun
Red'll have you treed before the mornin' comes
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 evenin' sun
And I smiled when I heard 'em turn Red out
'Cause I was headed north to Tennessee
And Ol' Red was headed south
And the warden sang
Come on somebody
Why don't you run?
Ol' Red's itchin' to have a little fun
Get my lantern, get my gun
Red'll have you treed before the mornin' comes
Now there's red-haired blue ticks all in the South
Love got me in here and love got me out
