My home's in Taney County
Among those pleasant hills
And the mem'ry of my birthplace
Is on my mem'ry still

I landed in Chicago
In the merry midst of May
And then I took to gambling
And sinned both night and day

I courted a fair damsel
Her name I will not tell
For why should I disgrace her
When I am doomed to hell?

It was on one moonlight evening
When the stars were shining bright
'Twas with and ugly dagger
I made her spirit's flight

I now stand on the scafold
My name it will not be long
You may forget the singer
Pray don't forget the song

abc | midi | pdf

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Source: Randolph/Cohen, Ozark Folksongs (Urbana, Chicago and London: University of Illinois Press, 1982), 153-155.

Notes:
"Evidently a local adaptation of 'Bad Companions,' a song I heard as long ago as 1918, and which has been sung by many radio 'hillbillys' in recent years. 'Bad Companions' is given in the Library of Congress Checklist, p. 14, as sung at Firebaugh, Calif., in 1940 and recorded by Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin. A text and tune of 'Young Companions' is given by Lomax and Lomax (1938), 212-214, and the text alone in J. Lomax, 81-82."

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