Well bad news travels like wild fire
Good news travels slow
And they call me old wild fire everywhere i go

Lord i'm bad news everybody knows
Always gettin' into trouble
And leaving little girls
That hate to see me go

Well i've picked peaches down in georgia
I lumber jacked up in maine
And i've been hired and fired and jailed
In every state you can name

Cause i'm ...
Well from north to south
From east to west the story is the same
From one state to the other
I had to change my name

Well they tried to hang me down in oakland
They did in san francisco
But i wouldn't choke and i broke their rope
And they had to let me go