Mickey Newbury - San Francisco Mabel Joy guitar chord

The lyrics here have been changed by David Allan Coe, so they differ slightly from the original.

(A)My daddy was an honest man just a (D)redneck Georgia (A)farm boy

My momma spent her short life raisin' kids and bailin' (E)hay

And (A)I was just fifteen when I (D)ached inside to (A)wander

So I hopped a freight in Waycross and I (G)rode it (F)to L.(E)A.

(A)Well I met a girl known on the strip as (D)San Francisco’s (A)Maybel Joy

Destitution’s child born on a L.A. street called (E)shame

And (A)sleep came and left this (D)little Waycross Georgia (A)country boy

Maybel Joy was gone Lord (G)I’d never (F)see her (E)again

(D)Growin’ up came quietly in the arms of Maybel (A)Joy

Laughter found our morning's brought new meaning to my (E)life

(D)I woke up one day Lord to find that I was (A)by myself

With dreams of Georgia cotton (E)and California (A)wine

Sunday (D)mornin' found me standin' 'neath the red light at her (A)door

Right cross sent me reelin' laid me face down on the (E)floor

(D)In place of my Maybel Joy I found a merchant mad (A)marine

Who said "Your Georgia neck is red but (G)sonny (F)you're still (E)green"

(A)Well I turned twenty-one in a (D)grey rock federal (A)prison

The judge he had no mercy on this (G)Waycross (F)Georgia (E)boy

(A)Sometimes at night in (D)silence Lord I'd (A)listen

That same old freight to take me (E)back to Maybel (A)Joy

(D)Cold nights had no pity on this Waycross Georgia (A)farm boy

Springtime turned to summer and then the winter (E)came

(D)Starin' at those four grey walls in silence Lord I'd (A)listen

Somewheres in the distance to the whistle of the (E)train

(D)Sunday mornin' found me lyin' 'neath the red-light at her (A)door

With a bullet in my side I cried "Have you seen Maybel (E)Joy?"

(D)Stunned and shaken someone said "Son she don't live here no (A)more

She left this town ten years ago I (G)heard she's (F)lookin’ (E)for

Some Georgia (D)farm boy" (A)