Well in the heat of day down in mobile, Alabama
I'm workin' on the railroad with a steel drivin' hammer
I gotta get some money buy some brand new shoes
Gotta find somebody take away my blues
Well she don't love me when I'm singin' in the sun
Payday's comin' when the work is all done

Well now late here in the evening when the sun is sinkin' low
All day I've been waitin' for that whistle to blow
Sitting in a teepee built right on here on the tracks
Rolling them bones until the foreman comes back
Pick up your belongings boys and scattere about
We've got an off schedule train comin' two miles out

Everybody's scrambling and a running around
Picking up their money tearing the teepee down
Foreman wants to panic, bout to go insane
Trying to get the workers out the way of the train
Engineer blows the whistle loud and long
Can't stop the train gotta let it roll on

Bye bye johnny
Well now she drew out all of the money of southern trust
And put her little johnny on a greyhound bus
Leavin' Louisiana for the golden west
Drowned in the tears from her happiness
Her own little son named johnny be goode
Gonna make some motion pictures out in Hollywood

I said bye, bye, bye, bye
I said bye, bye, bye, bye
Bye bye johnny, goodbye johnny be goode

Well she remembers taking money after gathering crops
And buying johnny's guitar at the brokers shop
As long as he would play it by the railroad site
He wouldn't get in trouble she was satisfied
Well she never knew there would come a day like this
When she'd have to give johnny a good bye kiss

I said bye, bye, bye, bye
I said bye, bye, bye, bye
Bye bye johnny, goodbye johnny be goode

Well now she finally got the letter she'd been dreaming of
When johnny wrote and told her he had done fell in love
As soon as he was married he'd bring her back
And build a mansion for her by the railroad track
And every time you heard that locomotive roar
She'd be standing there waiting at the kitchen door

I said bye, bye, bye, bye
I said bye, bye, bye, bye
Bye bye johnny, goodbye johnny be goode