My daddy was an honest man just a red dirt Georgia farm boy
My mama spent her young life raisin' kids and bailin' hay
Now I was just fifteen when I ached inside to wander
So hopped a freight in Waycross and I rode it to LA
I met a girl known on the Strip as San Francisco's Mabel Joy
Destitution's child born on an LA street called Shame
The sleep came and left this little Waycross country boy
Mabel Joy was gone Lord I'd never see her again
Growin' up came quietly in the arms of Mabel Joy
Laughter found the mornings brought the meaning to my life
I woke up one day Lord finding I was by myself
With dreams of Georgia cotton and a California wife
Lord the cold nights had no pity on a Waycross Georgia farm boy
Most days he went hungry and then the summer came
Sunday morning found me standin' neath the red light at her door
Right cross sent me reelin' put my face down on the floor
In place of my Mabel Joy he found a merchant mad marine
Who said your Georgia neck is red but Sonny you're still green
But I turned twenty one in a grey rock Federal prison
The judge had no mercy for this Waycross Georgia boy
Sometimes at night in silence Lord I'd listen
That midnight freight to take me back to Mabel Joy
The cold nights had no pity on this Waycross Georgia farm boy
Springtime turned to summer and then the winter came
Starin' at those four grey walls in silence Lord I'd listen
Somewhere's in the distance to the whistle of a train
Sunday morning found me lying neath the red light at her door
With a bullet in my side I cried have you seen Mabel Joy
Stunned and shaken someone said son she don't live here anymore
She left this town ten years ago I heard she's looking for
Some Georgia farm boy