I went across the river,
I lay down to sleep (2x)
When I woke up...
Had shackles on my feet

It takes a worried man
To sing a worried song
It takes a worried man
To sing a worried song
I'm worried now
But I won't be worried long

Twenty-one links
Of chain around my leg (2x)
And on each link
'S an initial of my name

It takes a worried man...

I asked that judge
"What's gonna be my fine?" (2x)
Twenty-one years
On the Rocky Mountain line

It takes a worried man...

That train pulled out
Twenty-one coaches long (2x)
And the woman I love
Is on that train and gone

It takes a worried man...

Twenty-one years
Pay my awful crime (2x)
Tweny-one years
And I still got ninety-nine