Songtext:Johnny got up one mornin' he went down to the company store

Got him a big box of bullets to fit into his 44

The storeman said son are you gonna work you know you owe me too much to stop

John said I got a little working to do but I ain't goin' by your clock

People said John was a slacker cause he wouldn't fight in their war

A man wasn't much if he wouldn't fight back in nineteen forty and four

The doctor said John was just too sick to go

But the people said that he was a coward

And one of the men makin' fun of him was a feller named a Milton Howard

Milton was down at the Cold Spring a drinkin' from a Mason jar

He said John you better get yourself to work you gonna fool around till you get fired

John blew the dust from his old 44 put two holes in Milton's head

When Johnny walked off to get some more shootin' done

That old Cold Spring was a runnin' with red

Next guy he met was a Steagall boy and the boy had a hammer in his hand

John said son you should've built yourself a box

Cause you're aheaded for the Promised Land

Steagall fell down to his knees to pray and he cried Lord Johnny please don't shoot

Before he got half way to sayin' amen well old John shot him out of his boots

[ dobro ]

Word went out thru the County that old John had lost his head

The people were running and screaming there were seven of 'em layin' there dead

Johnny hid out in a farmhouse he had satisfaction in his eyes

He said I know they're coming to get me boys but they ain't a gonna take me alive

People gathered round that old farmhouse was the relatives of all them dead

Now John said if the sheriff comes thru that door I'm gonna fill him plum full of lead

The sheriff kicked down that old farmhouse door but old John's gun would not shoot

Johnny just smiled at the sheriff and said the Lord must think a lot of you

They took old John to the jailhouse he entered in a guilty plea

The judge said death in the electric chair cause it's murder in the first degree

John's last meal was a lot of fried chicken cold beans and a baby squash

He ate every bite that they brought him then he smiled and said I thank you all a lot

[ dobro ]

They put old John in the electric chair they shaved his ankles and his head

The preacher said son you got something to say in a minute you're a gonna be dead

John said I ain't no coward and the people know that I won't run

Then Johnny smiled up at the warden and said turn it on turn it on turn it on