(words & music by Tony Joe White)
  Some of you all never been down South too much...
  I' gonna tell you a little story, so you'll understand where I'm talking about
  Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods and the fields,
  and it looks something like a turnip green.
  Everybody calls it Polk salad. Now that's Polk salad.
  Used to know a girl that lived down there and
  she'd go out in the evenings to pick 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
  Lived a girl that I swear to the world
  Made the alligators look tame
    Polk salad Annie
  'Gators got your granny
  Everybody said it was a shame
  For the mama was working on the chain-gang
  What a mean, vicious woman
    Everyday before suppertime
  She'd go down by the truck patch
  And pick her a mess of Polk salad
  And carry it home in a tote sack
    Polk salad Annie
  'Gators got you granny
  Everybody said it was a shame
  'Cause the mama was working on the chain-gang
  Whoo, how wretched, dispiteful, straight-razor totin' woman,
  Lord have mercy.
    Sock a little Polk salad to him
  Yeah, you know what, yeah, yeah
    But daddy was a lazy and a no-count
  Claimed he had a bad back
  All her brothers were fit for
  Was stealing watermelons out of my truck
    For once Polk salad Annie
  'Gators got your granny
  Everybody said it was a shame
  For the mama was working on the chain-gang
    Sock a little Polk salad to him
  You know what meets a meal mention
  You sock a little
  Hey, hey, hey, yeah, yeah
  Chic a bon, chic a bon, chic a bon bon bon bon
  Chic a bon, chic a bon, chic a bon bon bon bon
  Sock a little Polk salad to him
  You know what meets a meal mention
  Sock a little Polk salad to him
  You know what meets a meal mention
  Chinc, chinc, chinc, chin, ling, ling ling