The lyrics here have been changed by David Allan Coe, so they differ slightly from the original.
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"