The Ballad of Kinnie Wagner

My name is Kinnie Wagner I make the front page news
A hero in Scott County if ever one they knew
I’m a poet and an outlaw some say a lady’s man
I busted jail in Blountville to Mexico I ran

I took off with the circus when I was just a kid
Ran moonshine in the mountains the only trouble is
I shot a crooked sheriff in a shoot out Christmas eve
I might be a killer but I’ve never been a thief

I’ve never once been lonesome I like my company too well
It’ll serve me either way In heaven or in hell
I’ve played the cards that I was dealt what would you have done
Sixteen years in prison or sixteen on the run

A thousand dollar bounty and a woman Kingsport way
Three cops set up and ambush but it’s me who made them pay
I shot one through the heart and the other in the head
They brought a hearse to take my body but it carried them instead

They gave me the electric chair but I ran to Arkansas
Killed two brothers playing poker turned myself in to the law
The sheriff was a lady and she took a shine to me
Doing life in Mississippi beats death in Tennessee

I’ve never once been lonesome I like my company too well
It’ll serve me either way In heaven or in hell
I’ve played the cards that I was dealt what would you have done
Sixteen years in prison or sixteen on the run

Parchman farm is hell on earth they had me training dogs
I taught ‘em not follow me that’s why I wasn’t caught
Hoover had enough of me and I’d had enough of him
Deep down he must have known some day I’d pay for all my sins

Listen all you people don’t start down a road of crime
I sent five men to eternity and now it’s come my time
Two widows and ten children I know that they’ll be glad
Jesus died for being good I’ll die for being bad

Don’t cry for Kinnie Wagner that mean son of a gun
That two gun desperado done paid for what he’d done