Album: We All Got Together And...

Turn It On, Turn It On, Turn It On


Johnny got up one morning; he went down to the company store
Got him a big box of bullets to fit into his .44
The store man said, ";Son, are you gonna work? You know you owe me too much to stop.";
John said, ";I got a little workin' to do but I ain't goin' by your clock.";

People said John was a slacker, 'cause he wouldn't fight in their war
A man wasn't much if he wouldn't fight back in 1940 and 4
The doctor said John was just too sick to go, but the people said that he was a coward
And one of the men makin' fun of him was a fellow named Milton Howard

Milton was down at the cold spring, a-drinkin' from a mason jar
He said, ";John, you better get yourself to work or you're gonna fool around 'til you get fired.";
John blew the dust from his old .44, put two holes in Milton's head
When Johnny walked off to get some more shootin' done, that ol' cold spring was a-runnin' red

Next guy he met was a Stigall boy, and the boy had a hammer in his hand
John said ";Son, you should've built yourself a box, 'cause you're a headed for the Promised Land.";
Stigall fell down to his knees to pray, and he cried ";Lord, Johnny please don't shoot!";
Before he got halfway to saying ";Amen";, well old Johnny shot him out of his boots

Word went out through the county, that old John had lost his head
The people were runnin' and screamin'; there were seven of 'em lyin' there dead
Johnny hid out in a farmhouse; he had satisfaction in his eyes
He said ";I know they're coming to get me, boys, but they ain't a-gonna take me alive.";

People gathered 'round that old farmhouse; it was the relatives of all them dead
Now John said, ";If the sheriff comes through that door I'm gonna fill him plumb full of lead.";
The sheriff kicked down that old farmhouse door, but old John's gun would not shoot
Johnny just smiled at the sheriff and said, ";The Lord must think a lot of you.";

They took old John to the jailhouse; he entered in a guilty plea
The judge said death in the electric chair, 'cause it's murder in the first degree
John's last meal was a lot of fried chicken, cold beans and baby squash
He ate every bite that they brought him, then he smiled and said, ";I thank you all a lot.";

They put old John in the electric chair; they shaved his ankles and his head
The preacher said, ";Son, have you got something to say; in a minute you're a-gonna be dead.";
John said, ";I ain't no coward, and the people know that I won't run.";
Then Johnny smiled up at the warden and said, ";Turn it on, turn it on, turn it on!";