spoken:
One time my papa had a horse, his name was Frankie Jean
Man, that's the running'est horse the world I ever seen
And it just do me good to ride old Frankie Jean
And it do you good to sit and listen at him sometimes
When he's coming down that plank road, almost making his feet talk
Man, that's the singlest-footing horse the world I ever seen
Something kind of like this:

(Instrumental break)

Go on, Frankie Jean, go on
I had him out with me once and he got loose
I couldn't catch him to save my life
I called Frankie Jean and I called him
He didn't seem to pay me no mind
I went and told my papa, "How would you do if you want to catch a horse?"
He said, "How did you do?"
I said, "I called mine; called Frankie Jean and called him
He didn't seem to pay me no attention"
Said, "That's a horse, you can't, you didn't call him right
You must whistle when you want your horse to come to you
Something like this:"

(Full verse whistled)

Then he come single-footing to me
So I took him out again; he got loose from me
I called him and called him
He didn't seem to pay me no attention
I thought about what papa said
You's a horse, I must whistle for you, something like this:

(Full verse whistled)

Then he comes single-footing to me
I had him out on a race once
I had $5000 betting on Frankie Jean
Folks, I wasn't scared at all, 'cause I know he wasn't going to let me lose
'Fore he let me lose, he'd run off all of his shoes
Something like this:

(Instrumental break)

Go on, Frankie Jean