[Intro]
(I can't stay no longer...)
(I can't stay no longer...)
(I can't stay no longer...)
I gotta go, I told you so
(I can't stay no longer...)
Don't you go

[Verse 1]
By the time I get to Phoenix, she'll be rising
(Ooh, I can't stay no longer...)
She'll red the note I left hangin', hangin' on her door
(Ooh, I can't stay no longer...)
I wanna tell you, she'll laugh when she reads the part
That says: "I can't stay no longer" (I can't stay no longer)
'Cause I've left that girl so many times before...

[Verse 2]
By the time I get to Albuquerque, she'll be working
(Ooh, I can't stay no longer...)
Woo-woo, she'll probably stop at lunch, y'all
Ooh, and give your old boy a call
And she'll hear that telephone keep on
(Keep on ringing, keep on ringing)
Right on the wall, that will be all...
[Verse 3]
Oh, by the time I get to Oklahoma, she will be sleeping
Turn softly, and call my name out low
And she'll cry when she realizes (ooh...), that I really left her
Oh, time after time after time after time after time
No, time after time tried my best to tell her so
(Ooh, I can't stay no longer...)
The girl, she just didn't know (ooh...)

[Vamp]
I'd... (I gotta go, I gotta go)
Really go... (I gotta go, I gotta go)
(I gotta go, I gotta go)
Now she knows (I gotta go, I gotta go)
I'd be gone (I gotta go, I gotta go)
She never thought I'd leave her (I gotta go, I gotta go)
Never thought I'd go (I gotta go, I gotta go)
Oh, I just can't take no more (I gotta go, I gotta go)
I gotta go (I gotta go, I gotta go)

[Outro]
Deeper, deep in my heart I still love her so
But-but-but-but-but-but-but-but-but, I've got to go
Goooone... I'm gone, this is goodbye, baby
And I think, I think you know why
I'm gone, gone, baby... but I still love you so
Oh baby, oh baby, oh baby, I... I hate to go
Oh, deep in my heart I still, I still, I still, I still
I still, I still love you so