Beginning: G D G D G A D 
 
D                  G                D 
I drove all day to North Mississippi 
D                        E             A 
I drove all night to the place I call home 
D                          G                    D 
I hope that Johnny?s still waitin? there for me 
D                         A         D 
To take me beside him and call me his own 
G                  D 
But it?s too late now 
G               D 
It?s too late now 
G               D 
The smell of magnolias  
G                 D 
Still sweet in my mouth 
G               A        D 
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 
 
Chorus 
 
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 
 
Chorus 
 
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 
 
Chorus: 
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