Well, you wake up in the mornin', you hear the work bell ring,
And they march you to the table to see the same old thing.
Ain’t no food upon the table, and no pork up in the pan.
But you better not complain, boy, you get in trouble with the man.
CHORUS:
Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me,
Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me,
Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me,
Let the Midnight Special shine a everlovin' light on me.
Yonder come miss Rosie, how in the world did you know?
By the way she wears her apron, and the clothes she wore.
Umbrella on her shoulder, piece of paper in her hand;
She come to see the gov’nor, she wants to free her man.
CHORUS
If you’re ever in Houston, well, you better do the right;
You better not gamble, there, you better not fight, at all
Or the sheriff will grab ya and the boys will bring you down.
The next thing you know, boy, Oh! You’re prison bound.
CHORUS
CHORUS
This was the first time this song (which had been on the folk circuit for a while) charted on the Pop charts. Evans did a good job with it; he switched here from the teen pop sound of "Seven Little Girls" to a more country-oriented style, as in with "Happy Go Lucky Me".
This is a great version of Midnight Special, possibly the best, and certainly my favorite. I remember laying in bed on a winter night listening to top-40 AM late night radio from a distant city (winter was when we could get the best signal out in the sticks where I lived), and the first time I heard this over the airwaves, I thought it was the best thing I had ever heard. Thanks for uploading it.