Instead of the fine that I could not pay

Said "Walk right, you'll soon be home

Cross the line, you'll be on your own"

Forty days of shotguns and barbed wire fences

Forty nights to sit and listen

To the midnight train to Memphis

Well now, whistle blows when the sun comes up

Head to floor, keep your big mouth shut

Eat your breakfast on the ground

Work like hell till the sun goes down

Forty days of shotguns and barbed wire fences

Forty nights to sit and listen

To the midnight train to Memphis

Well now, then for the jury, ten for the judge

Twenty more to forget my grudge

When I get to thirty-nine

That's the longest day in a prisoner's mind

Forty days of shotguns and barbed wire fences

Forty nights to sit and listen

To the midnight train to Memphis

Midnight train to Memphis

Midnight train to Memphis

Oh, Midnight train to Memphis