Well I caught my wife with another man
And it cost me ninety nine
On a prison farm in Georgia
Close to the Florida line
Well I´d been here for two long years

I finally made the warden my friend
And so he sentenced me to a life of ease
Taking care of Ol Red

Now Ol´ Red he´s the damnedest dog that I´ve ever seen
Got a nose that can smell a two day trail
He´s a four legged tracking machine
You can consider yourself mighty lucky
To get past the gators and the quicksand beds
But all these years that I´ve been here
Ain´t nobody got past Red

And 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 before the mornin´ comes

Well I paid off the guard and I slipped out a letter
To my cousin up in Tennessee
Oh and he brought down a blue tick hound
She was pretty as she could be
Well they penned her up in the swampland
´Bout a mile just south of the gate
And I´d take Ol´ Red for his evening run
I´d just drop him off and wait

And 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 before the mornin´ comes

Now Ol´ Red got real used to seeing
His lady every night
And so I kept him away for three or four days
And waited till the time got right
Well I made my run with the evenin´ sun
And I smiled when I heard ´em turn Red out
´Cause I was headed north to Tennessee
And Ol´ Red was headed south

And 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 before the mornin´ comes

Now there´s red haired blue ticks all in the South
Love got me in here and love got me out