I woke up in a hotel, didn't know what to do 

I turned the TV on, wrote a letter to you 

The news was talkin' 'bout a dead man upon the interstate 

Seems they lookin' for a Cadillac with Tennessee plates 



Well 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, my trial I'll have to wait 

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 hotwired 

We crossed the Mississippi like an oil slick fire, Yeah! 



Yeah If they'd known what we was up to they wouldn't let us in 

Now we landed in Memphis like original sin 

Elvis Presley Boulevard to the Graceland gates 

Oh, see we're lookin' for a Cadillac with Tennessee plates 



Man, there must have been a dozen of them parked in that garage 

There wasn't one Lincoln and there wasn't one Dodge 

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 that wild weekend 

Anyway he wouldn't care, hell he gave them to his friends 



This ain't no hotel I'm writin' you from 

The Tennessee prison up at Brushy Mountain 

Where yours sincerely's doin' five to eight 

Stampin' out my time makin' Tennessee plates