The song was written during prohibition by a man serving time in a local jail in Newport News, Virginia. The "midnight special" was a police car, outfitted with a spot light. The "man" would drive up and down the allyways looking for illegal nip joints and such. He would use his search "light" to find illegal drinking and nip joints. The song was origionally written as (Don't) let the midnight special, shine its light on me! This is because if it did, you would be caught, busted and sent up to face "the man". So one did not want the "midnight special" to shine it's light on me. The man who origionally wrote the lyrics to this song sold them while still incarcerated. To do more research, search the archives of The Daily Press newspaper in Newport News Va. The did a article on this about 15 years ago. John Jones email: [email][vapnut@hotmail.com]