Gonna tell you the story   About old Lost John   Lost John was a boy that got loose   From a chain gang down in Louisiana      About sixteen bloodhound, took in after him   Sheriffs, deputies   And everybody else in the county   Chasin? him all across the swamp      Lost John outrun the bloodhounds there   All night long, it was long towards mornin?   He looked up to the tree there   And seen the lights from a house      He didn?t know whether the people inside   Was friends or were enemies   So he wanted to go up to the house   So, and asked if he could stay there   To get away from the bloodhounds      He was afraid if he did go up there   That the people might set their dogs   Barking at him or shoot him down   With a Winchester riffle      This is the story about Lost John      Old Lost John ain?t lost no more