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 been here for two long years
and i finnaly made the warden my friend
so he sentenced me to a life of ease
takin care of ol red

now ol red he’s the damndest dog
that ive ever seen
hes got a nose that can smell
a two day trail
hes a four legged trackin machine
you can consider yourself mighty lucky
to get past the gators and the quicksand beds
but all these years that i been here
aint nobody got past red

(chorus)
and the warden sang
cmon somebody why dont ya run?
ol reds itchin to have a little fun
get my lantern get my gun
red’ll have you treed befor the mornin comes

i paid off the guard and i slipped out a letter
to my cousin up in tennessee
he brought down a blue tick hound
she was pretty as she could be
and they penned her up in the swamplands
bout a mile just south of the gate
and id take ol red for his evening run
id just drop him off, and wait

(chorus)

now ol red got real used to seein
his lady every night
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

(chorus)

now theres red haired blue tick all in the south
love got me in here and love got me out