Stonewall Jackson performs "I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water" Live Video.

Stonewall Jackson performs "I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water" Live Video.

"I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water" is a song recorded by Stonewall Jackson in 1965, whose version reached number eight on Hot Country Songs in 1965. Written by Cowboy Joe Babcock,it was also a hit by Johnny Rivers in 1966, reaching number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The Spencer Davis Group recorded the song for The Second Album. Elvis Presley recorded and released it on the album Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old) in 1971.

Stonewall Jackson - I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water Lyrics

 

I was born in Macon, Georgia

They kept my dad in the Macon jail

Dad said, "Son, if you keep your hands clean

You won't hear them bloodhounds on your trail"

 

But I fell in with bad companions

We robbed a man in Tennessee

The sheriff caught me way up in Nashville

They locked me up and threw away the key

 

I washed my hands in muddy water

Washed my hands but they didn't come clean

Tried to do like daddy told me

But I must have washed my hands in a muddy stream

 

Asked the jailor when's my time up

He said, "Son, we won't forget

And if you try to keep your hands clean

We may make a good man of you yet"

 

I couldn't wait to do my sentence

I broke out of the Nashville jail

I just crossed the line of Georgia

And I can hear them bloodhounds on my trail

 

I washed my hands in muddy water

I washed my hands but they didn't come clean

Tried to do like daddy told me

But I must have washed my hands in a muddy stream