my mother called me to her bedside these words she said to me if you don t quit your rambling ways they re gonna get you in the penetentiary gonna get you in the penetentiary poor boy gonna get you in the penetentiary if you don t quit your reckless ways they re gonna get you in the penetentiary so i sat myself down in a gambling game but i could not play my hand just thinking about that woman i love run away with another man run away with another man poor boy run away with another man just thinking about that woman i love run away with another man the cards came around the table lord and i had such a worried mind my stack of gold dollars i wasted away and i lost about ninety nine i lost about ninety nine poor boy i lost about ninety nine my stack of gold dollars i wasted away and i lost about ninety nine it wasn t very long till i seen him again he ran away left her behind and i laid him down with my old forty four and the judge gave me ninety nine the judge gave me ninety nine poor boy the judge gave me ninety nine i laid a man down with my big forty four and the judge gave me ninety nine well the jury said i had to pay and the clerk he wrote it down and the judge called out my number two sixes upside down two sixes upside down poor boy two sixes upside down the judge called out my number two sixes upside down