Well judge looked down gave me forty days       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