I woke up in a hotel and I didn`t know what to do 
I turned the TV on and wrote a letter to you 
The news was talkin` `bout a dragnet up on the interstate 
Said they were lookin` for a Cadillac with Tennessee plates 
  
Since I left California baby, things have gotten worse 
Seems the land of opportunity for me is just a curse 
Tell that judge in Bakersfield that my trial will have to wait 
Down here they`re lookin` for a Cadillac with Tennessee plates 
  
It was somewhere in Nevada, it was cold outside 
She was shiverin` in the dark, so I offered her a ride 
Three bank jobs later, four cars hot wired 
We crossed the Mississippi like an oil slick fire 
  
If they`d known what we was up to they wouldn`t `a let us in 
When we landed in Memphis like original sin 
Up Elvis Presley Boulevard to the Graceland gates 
See we were lookin` for a Cadillac with Tennessee plates 
  
Well, there must have been a dozen of them parked in that garage 
And there wasn`t one Lincoln and there wasn`t one Dodge 
And there wasn`t one Japanese model or make 
Just pretty, pretty Cadillacs with Tennessee plates 
  
She saw him singing once when she was seventeen 
And ever since that day she`s been living in between 
I was never king of nothin` but this wild weekend 
Anyway he wouldn`t care, hell he gave them to his friends 
  
Well this ain`t no hotel I`m writin` you from 
It`s the Tennessee prison up at Brushy Mountain 
Where yours sincerely`s doin` five to eight 
Stampin` out my time makin` Tennessee plates