San Francisco Mabel Joy Kenny Rogers

[Verse 1]
His daddy was an honest man, a red dirt Georgia farmer
His mama lived her short life having kids and baling hay
He had fifteen years, an ache inside to wander
He hopped a freight in Waycross and wound up in L.A. 

[Verse 2]
Lord, the cold nights had no pity on a Waycross, Georgia farm boy
Most days he went hungry, then the summer came
He met a girl known on the strip as San Francisco's Mabel Joy
Destitution's child born of an L.A. street called shame

[Verse 3]
Growing up came quietly in the arms of Mabel Joy
Laughter found their mornings, brought a meaning to his life
Yes, the night before she left, sleep came and left that Waycross country boy
With dreams of Georgia cotton and a California wife

[Verse 4]
Sunday morning found him standing 'neath the red light at her door
When a right cross sent him reeling, put him face down on the floor
In place of Mabel Joy, he found a merchant mad marine
He growled that Georgia neck is red, but sonny, you're still green

[Verse 5]
He turned twenty-one in a gray rock federal prison
The old judge had no mercy for a Waycross, Georgia boy
Starin' at those four gray walls, in silence he would listen
That midnight freight he knew would take him back to Mabel Joy