Sanford Barnes

Cat. #1493 (MFH #73) - As sung by Bill Baker, Saint Paul, Arkansas on October 27, 1973

VERSE 1
My name is Sanford Barnes
I came from a northern town
I've traveled this wide world over
I've had my ups an' downs
An' better days I've saw
But I never knew what misery was
Till I come to Arkansas

VERSE 2
I started out one morning
Th merry month of June
I landed in Little Rock
One rainy afternoon
Up walked a walking skeleton
An' handed t' me his paw
Invited me to his hotel
Th best in Arkansas

VERSE 3
I folloer'd my conductor
To his fine dwelling place
His poverty an' his starvation
Is sure dired on his face
His bread it was corn dodger
His beef I could not chaw
An' that was th kind of th hash I got
In Little Rock, Arkansas

VERSE 4
I got up next morning
T' catch an early train
He says, Bill you'd better work fer me
I have land to drain
I'll give you fifty cents a day
You board, n' wash, n' all
You will be a different man
When you leave Arkansas

VERSE 5
He fed me on corn dodger
Hard as any rock
My teeth begin to loosen
My knees begin to knock
I got so fat on sassafrass tea
I could hide behind a straw
Indeed I was a different man
When I left Arkansas

VERSE 6
I started out next evening
Was a quarter after five
I landed in Fayetteville
Half dead an' half alive
I bought me a quart of whiskey
My misery was to ball
I got as drunk as a son-of-gun
When I left Arkansas

VERSE 7
Farewell to you swamp angels
Quinine an' your chills
Farewell to you -- -- ---
Your dog-gone dodger pills
If ever I see ole Mac again
I'll hand t' him my paw
Would be thru a telescope
From Heaven to Arkansas

Variants