Well there's a place down in Louisiana along the Mississippi River
They got man-eatin' dogs and the walls are forty feet high
Where many good man has took his stand
And with a chain on his leg he had to stand and beg
To the big bossman at the prisoner at Natchez Landing

Well ev'ry man says he ain't guilty but what I'm gonna tell you is true
I did a lot of time for a thing I didn't do
That big bossman he drove me like a slave
I finally broke to freedom couldn't stay that way
Now they're taking me back to the prison at Natchez Landing

He makes me walk and talk to a big rock pile
You could hear my hammer ring for a mile
And if I ever dared to give him any lip
He makes me answer to the big pull whip
He's the big bossman at the prison at Natchez Landing

Well that old train is really hummin' taking me back where I'm belongin'
That is if you can call prison a place where a man belongs in
I chaned to a guard who's unaware
The switch has been thrown that will tear
This train from the tracks and keep me out of Natchez Landing

Now a 20-ton engine a bunch of cars are a mass of twisted steel
At last I'm free and I can't believe it's real
I'm hurt mighty bad but I feel no pain
Cause the guard next to me he'll never use that whip again
He's the big bossman at the prison at Natchez Landing

Yeah he made me walk and talk to a big rock pile
You could hear my hammer ring for a mile
And if I ever dared to give him any lip
He makes me answer to the big pull whip
He was the big bossman at the prison at Natchez Landing
He was the big bossman at the prison at Natchez Landing
I said the big bossman at the prison at Natchez Landing