By the time I get to Phoenix

She'll be rising

And she'll find the note I left hangin' on her door

And she'll laugh, when she reads the part that says I'm leaving

'Cause I've left that girl, so many times before

And by the time I make Albuquerque

She'll be working

She'll probably stop at lunch

Lord and give me a call

But she'll just hear that phone keep on ringing

Off the wall

And that's all

And by the time I make Oklahoma

She'll be sleeping

She'll turn softly and call my name out low

Lord and she'll cry, just to think, I'd really leave her

Though time and time I've tried to tell her so, God knows

If she just didn't know

That I would really go

Though she didn't know I know

She didn't know I know