His daddy was a simple man just a red dirt Georgia farmer And his mama spent her young life havin' kids and bailin' hay He had fifteen years and an ache inside to wander So he hopped a freight in Waycross and wound up in LA Lord the cold nights had no pity on a Waycross Georgia farm boy Most days he went hungry and then the summer came He met a girl known on the Strip as San Francisco's Mabel Joy Destitution's child born of an LA street called Shame Growin' up came quietly in the arms of Mabel Joy Laughter found the mornings brought meaning to his life Yes the night before she left sleep came and left that Waycross Georgia boy With dreams of Georgia cotton and a California wife Sunday morning found him standin' neath the red light at her door
When a right cross sent him reelin' put him face down on the floor In place of Mabel Joy he found a merchant mad marine Who groaned your Georgia neck is red but Sonny you're still green He turned twenty-one in a grey rock Federal prison The old judge had no mercy for a Waycross Georgia boy Starin' at those four grey walls in silnce he would listen To that midnight freight he knew would take him back to Mabel Joy Sunday morning found him lyin' neath the red light at her door With a bullet in his side he cried have you seen Mabel Joy Stunned and shaken someone said why son she don't live here anymore She left this house four years today and they say she's lookin' for Some Georgia farm boy