I drove all day to North Mississippi

I drove all night to the place I call home

I hope that Johnny's still waitin' there for me

To take me beside him and call me his own

But it's too late now

It's too late now

The smell of magnolias

Still sweet in my mouth

And I know it's too late now

Johnny got mean when he started drinkin'

And it wasn't nobody's fault when he cried

So I left one mornin' from North Mississippi

Cause I couldn't stand to tell mama I lied

But it's too late now

It's too late now

The smell of magnolias

Now gone from my mouth

And I know it's too late now

Johnny took no time to ask me to marry

And I said I would though I knew it was wrong

They played Hank Williams in North Mississippi

And I played the same girl I had all along

But it's too late now

It's too late now

The smell of magnolias

Now gone from my mouth

And I know it's too late now

Early one mornin' in North Mississippi

I swore that I could hear somebody cry

But it wasn't my Johnny from North Mississippi

All dressed up in orange on the day that I died

But it's too late now

It's too late now

The smell of magnolias

Now gone from my mouth

And I know it's too late now

The smell of magnolias

Now gone from my mouth

And I know it's too late now