A                                 D               A
My daddy was an honest man just a redneck Georgia farm boy
                                                       E
My momma spent her short life raisin' kids and bailin' hay
    A                         D               A
And I was just fifteen when I ached inside to wander
                                        G       F     E
So I hopped a freight in Waycross and I rode it to L. A.

A                                       D               A
Well I met a girl known on the strip as San Francisco?s Maybel Joy
                                                 E
Destitution?s child born on a L.A. street called shame
    A                        D                       A
And sleep came and left this little Waycross Georgia country boy
                         G         F       E
Maybel Joy was gone Lord I?d never see her again

D                                             A
Growin? up came quietly in the arms of Maybel Joy
                                                       E
Laughter found our morning's brought new meaning to my life
D                                         A
I woke up one day Lord to find that I was by myself
                              E              A
With dreams of Georgia cotton and California wine

       D                                                     A
Sunday mornin' found me standin' 'neath the red light at her door
                                                     E
Right cross sent me reelin' laid me face down on the floor
D                                                A
In place of my Maybel Joy I found a merchant mad marine
                                       G     F            E
Who said "Your Georgia neck is red but sonny you're still green"

A                             D                 A
Well I turned twenty-one in a grey rock federal prison
                                  G        F       E
The judge he had no mercy on this Waycross Georgia boy
A                     D                A
Sometimes at night in silence Lord I'd listen
                                 E              A
That same old freight to take me back to Maybel Joy

D                                                A
Cold nights had no pity on this Waycross Georgia farm boy
                                                E
Springtime turned to summer and then the winter came
D                                                    A
Starin' at those four grey walls in silence Lord I'd listen
                                                 E
Somewheres in the distance to the whistle of the train

D                                                         A
Sunday mornin' found me lyin' 'neath the red-light at her door
                                                       E
With a bullet in my side I cried "Have you seen Maybel Joy?"
D                                                           A
Stunned and shaken someone said "Son she don't live here no more
                                   G           F       E
She left this town ten years ago I heard she's lookin? for
             D         A
Some Georgia farm boy"