Well, judge looked down gave me forty days
Instead of the fine that I could not pay
Said walk right you'll soon be home
Cross the line and you're on your own

Forty days of shotguns and barbed wire fences
Forty nights to sit an listen, to the midnight train to Memphis

Well now, whistle blows when the sun comes up
Head to floor keep your big mouth shut
Eat your breakfast on the ground
Work like hell 'til the sun goes down

Forty days of shotguns and barbed wire fences
Forty nights to sit an listen, to the midnight train to Memphis

Well now, ten for the jury, ten for the judge
Twenty more to forget my grudge
When that day is thirty-nine
That's the longest day in a prisoner's mind

Forty days of shotguns and barbed wire fences
Forty nights to sit an listen, to the midnight train to Memphis
Midnight train to Memphis
Midnight train to Memphis
Oh the midnight train to Memphis