Last time we were here at Folsom Prison, they were hanging Joe Bean.
Is Joe still here, Joe Bean? Hang the son of a bitch anyways, right?

Well, they're hanging Joe Bean this morning, for killing a man in Arkansas.
Funny thing about it, Joe Bean has never been to Arkansas.
On top of that, Joe Bean never heard of the man.
In fact, today is Joe Bean's twentieth birthday.

See through the prison bars, Joe Bean, see where the gallows stand.
Just twenty short years from the day you were born, you died by the hangman's hand.
Yes, they're hanging Joe Bean this morning, for a shooting that he never did.
He killed 20 men, by the time he was 10, he was an unruly kid.

Yes, they're hanging Joe Bean for the one shooting that Joe Bean never did.
Well, Joe, your mother is at the Capitol, asking the governor for a stay.
And it's hard on her, 'cause she knows where you were, on that particular day.
You were working Joe Bean, hard working, robbing the Santa Fe.

Well, the telegraph wires are humming.
Here, the governor's words come through.
He said, "I can't set you free, it's not up to me, but there's much, Joe Bean, I'll do.
I'll join your mother in extending Birthday greetings to you. Happy Birthday, Joe Bean."

Copyright: Universal Music Publishing Group
Writer(s): BUD FREEMAN, LEON POBER