Album: Ol’ Savannah
(Budde/Johnson)

I learned to shoot before I learned to talk
I learned to kill before I learned to walk
I learned to run before I learned the law
Now the boys are coming down on me
And they’re coming down on me hard
‘Cause I killed a man, but I never killed a man who didn’t need a killin’

Oh, I was born on a farm in a dirt-floor country shack
My mama gave me lovin’ and my papa took it back
So I shot him in the knee cap and kicked him the head
I killed the man who made me and I left him in the shed
I killed a man, but I never killed a man who didn’t need a killin’

By day I ploughed the field, by I night I drank my rye
I guarded the sows and steer beneath the dark, dark sky
One frozen, winter night caught a man in my barn
I shot him in the belly then I just shot him twice more
I killed a man, but I never killed a man who didn’t need a killin’

The law he came to fetch me so I packed my hat and gun
I headed out west, spent six months on the run
The Sheriff caught me sleeping with a whore in a van
So I stabbed him in the neck and then I cut off his right hand
I killed a man, but I never killed a man who didn’t need a killin’

They caught me in Vegas with some gold and cocaine
They tried me for murder, well that’s all just the same to me
‘Cause I ain’t sorry for what I done
I ain’t sorry for nothing I done
I killed a man, but I never killed a man who didn’t need a killin’