Ol' Red - George Jones

Caught my wife with another man

Now I’m doin' ninety-nine

At a prison down in Georgia

Close to the Florida line

I’ve been here for twelve long years

And I finally made the warden my friend

So he sentenced me to a life of ease

Takin' care of ol' Red

Now ol' red he’s a dangerous dog

This old boy has ever seen

He’s got a nose that can smell a two day trail

Lord, he’s a four legged tracking machine

Just 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

Hear the warden say

Come on somebody why don’t you run

Ol' Red’s a-itchin' to have a little fun?

Get my lantern, get my gun

Red’ll have 'em treed 'fore the mornin' come

I payed off a guard and he slipped out a letter

To my cousin in Tennessee

And he brought down me a blue tick hound

Lord, she was pretty as she could be

They penned her up in the swampland

About a mile just south of the gate

And when I take ol' Red for his evening run

And I’d just drop him off and wait

Hear the warden say

Come on somebody why don’t you run?

Ol' Red’s a-itchin' to have a little fun

Get my latern, get my gun

Red’ll have 'em treed 'fore the mornin' come

Now old red got use to seein'

This little lady there every night

So I kept him away for three or fours days

And waited till the time was right

I made my run with the evening sun

And I smiled when I heard 'em let him out

'Cause I headed north to Tennessee

And ol' Red was a-headed south

I hear the warden say

Come on somebody why don’t you run?

Ol' Red’s a-itchin' to have a little fun

Get my latern, get my gun

Red’ll have 'em treed 'fore the mornin' come

Now, there’s red hair blue ticks dogs in the south

Love got me in there and love got me out