Hard Luck Blues - Marvin Rainwater

Things were gettin' mighty rough in Oklahoma

And I liked to starve to death in Tennessee

Someone said there’s lotsa work way down in Georgia

I thought I’d take me down and see

Well, I musta been the poorest man in Georgia

And the taste of food was just a memory

Standin' in the rain a-lookin' through this window

And I swear this is what I see

Well, this bum worse than me was a-takin' money

And the guy that run the place was on the floor

Well I knew the thing to do was to take off runnin'

But I just can’t run no more

Well, if you think they came and got me, well, you guessed it

Locked me up, that’s just exactly what they did

And that bum that killed the man took the money

Well, I guess he went and hid

Well, they finally made their mind I didn’t do it

After 20 years of sittin' in a cell

Now, if anybody ever mentions Georgia

I’ma gonna say I’d rather go to-

Well, they say there’s lotsa work in Louisiana

So I think I’ll take me down there and see

But if they’ve got a chain gang in New Orleans

That’s the last you’ll ever see of me