On the eve of our fourth anniversary I caught my beloved in the warm embrace of another,
the aftermath of which resulted in my detention for 99 years in state prison
not far from the border between Ware and Baker counties,
close in proximity to the state line between Florida and Georgia.
Over my first two years as ward of the stateI managed to befriend the warden, who, in turn,
repaid in kind with the promise of a life spent looking after his dog, Red

Now Ol’ Red, he was the damnedest dog I’d ever seen,
with a powerful nose that’d smell a two-day trail - a bonafide trackin’ machine
Despite all of the other methods of escaping this hell, past the gators and the quicksand fence
In all my years here I have never seen anybody get past Red.

“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 tree’d 'fore the mornin' comes”

So I struck up a plan, payed off the guard and relayed a letter to my cousin in Tennessee
to bring me down a blue-tick hound, the prettiest one he could find
Had ‘em pin her up in the swamplands about a mile just south of the gate
and every evening, while taking Red out for his runs
I’d lead him ‘round, light a cigarette, and just wait.

“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 tree’d 'fore the mornin' comes”

After a few weeks Red had gotten mighty accustomed to his evening strolls
so I decided to take a new route. Though he didn’t take kindly to this sudden change
It was 4 days later that I decided to strike out on a run neath the setting sun
I heard the bell as they let Red out and a grin streaked across my face
as I escaped North and Red headed South!

“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 tree’d 'for the mornin' comes”

Red-haired blue ticks
All in the South
Love got me in here
And love got me out