I wake up every morning about the break of dawnHear the rooster crowing, I feel all aloneThere's honeysuckle outside my window, dew sparkling on the vineLittle squirrels are barking like they was a mountain lionI get to thinking about the road and all the times I come back againOh, I was born a child of these muddy roadsLord, I'll die here lonesome as the windCause all my cars, they broke down laying in my front yardI ought to get one together but the work just seems too hardBut a man come by this morning, he wanted to paint my barnHe painted Searock City, U.S. Highway 31I used to have a church woman, pretty as she could beRun off with a gospel singer down in Nashville, TennesseeSo I drank a lot of liquor, Lord, and I drank a lot of boozeI'm a midnight country rambler, you know I ain't got much to loseI wake up a lot of mornings laying down in jailMy head will be hurting, you know, and I won't be feeling too wellThat old fat-bellied sheriff, he come walking up to meI want to know how it felt, not being freeI tell him it didn't matter, Lord, and I didn't care a whole lotI'd rather been in jail than hell than a fat-bellied copYeah, a man come by this morning, Lord, now he wanted to paint my barnWell, he painted Searock City, U.S. Highway 31