[Verse 1]
I caught my wife with another man
It cost me ninety nine
Down in Georgia prison
Close to the Florida line
Well I'd been here for two long years
I finally made the warden my friend
He sentenced me to a life of ease
Taking care of Ol' Red

[Verse2]
Now Ol' Red he's the damnedest dog that I've ever seen
He's 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
'Cause all these years that I've been here
Nobody got past Red

[Chorus]
Hear the warden sang
Come on somebody
Why don't you run
Ol' Red's itchin' to have a little fun
Get my lantern
Get my gun
Red'll have you treed 'fore the mornin' comes
[Verse 3]
I paid off the guard and I slipped out a letter
To my cousin up in Tennessee
Now he brought down a blue tick hound
She was pretty as she could be
So we staked her up in the swampland
About a mile just south of the gate
And I'd take Ol' Red for his evenin' walk
Let him go and wait

[Chorus]
Hear the warden sang
Come on somebody
Why don't you run
Ol' Red's itchin' to have a little fun
Get my lantern
Get my gun
Red'll have you treed 'fore the mornin' comes

[Verse 4]
Now Ol' Red got real used to seein'
His lady fried every night
So I kept him away for three or four days
And waited 'til the time got right
Well I made my run with the evenin' sun
And I smiled when I heard they let Red out
'Cause I was headed north to Tennessee
And Ol' Red he was headed south
[Chorus]
Hear the warden sang
Come on somebody
Why don't you run
Ol' Red's itchin' to have a little fun
Get my lantern
Get my gun
Red'll have you treed 'fore the mornin' comes

[Outro]
Now there's red-haired blue ticks all in the South
Love got me in here and love got me out