"Ole Red (Live From The Coal Mines)" lyrics
(originally by George Jones)
Well, I caught my wife with another man
And it cost me ninety nine
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 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
He got a nose that can smell a two-day trail
He's a four-legged trackin' 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
Well, get my lantern, and get my gun
Red'll have you treed before the mornin' comes
So 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 evenin' 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
Well, get my lantern, and get my gun
Red'll have you treed before the mornin' comes
Now Ol' Red got real used to seein'
His lady every night
And so I kept him away for three or four days
And waited till the time got right
Oh, I made my run with the evenin' sun
And I smiled when I heard them 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
Well, get my lantern, and 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
And it cost me ninety nine
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 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
He got a nose that can smell a two-day trail
He's a four-legged trackin' 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
Well, get my lantern, and get my gun
Red'll have you treed before the mornin' comes
So 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 evenin' 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
Well, get my lantern, and get my gun
Red'll have you treed before the mornin' comes
Now Ol' Red got real used to seein'
His lady every night
And so I kept him away for three or four days
And waited till the time got right
Oh, I made my run with the evenin' sun
And I smiled when I heard them 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
Well, get my lantern, and 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
