If some of ya'll never been down south too much
I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this
So that you'll understand what I'm talking about
Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods
And in the fields looks something like a turnip green
And everybody calls it polk salad, polk salad
Used to know a girl lived down there
And she'd go out in the evenings and pick her a mess of it
Carry it home and cook it for supper
'Cause that's about all they had to eat, but they did all right

Down in Louisiana, where the alligators grow so mean
There lived a girl, that I swear to the world
Made the alligators look tame
Polk salad Annie, polk salad Annie
Everybody said it was a shame
'Cause her momma was a-working on the chain gang
(A mean vicious woman)

Everyday for supper time, she'd go down by the truck patch
And pick her a mess of polk salad
And carry it home in a tow sack
Polk salad Annie, the gators got your granny
Everybody says it was a shame
'Cause her momma was a-working on the chain gang
(A wretched, spiteful, straight-razor toting woman
Lord, have mercy, pick a mess of it)

Her daddy was lazy and no count, claimed he had a bad back
All her brothers were fit for 
Stealing watermelons out of my truck patch
Polk salad Annie, the gators got your granny
Everybody said it was a shame
'Cause her momma was a-working on the chain gang
(Sock a little polk salad to me, you know I need me a mess of it)