Cat. #0449 (MFH #309) - As sung by Mr. William Edens, Mont Ne, Arkansas on January 20, 1960
VERSE 1
My name it is Joe Bowers
I have a brother, Ike
I'm just from ole Missouri
An' all th way from Pike
Perhaps you wonder how I left there
An' how I came to roam
To leave my kind ole Mother
So far away from home
VERSE 2
I used to court a little girl
Her name's Susan Black
I asked her to marry me
She said, it was a whack
She said to me, Joe Bowers
Before we're hitched for life
You'd better have a little home
To take your darling wife
VERSE 3
I said to her, little Susan
O Susan, for your sake
I'll go to California
An', I'll try to raise a stake
She says to me, Joe Bowers
You are a man to win
She give me a kiss to seal th bargin
She threw a dozen in
VERSE 4
When I got to Sandansisco
I had'nt ne'ry a red
I had such woeful feeling as
I wished my self most dead
But th thoughts of dearless Susan
Soon made those feelings get
An' th weeping of Joe Bowers
I wished I had them yet
VERSE 5
It's down upon th boulders
Jest like ten thousand bricks
I worked both late an' early
Through frost, rain an' snow
I'se working for my Susan
But it's all th same to Joe
VERSE 6
At length I received a letter
An' it's from my brother, Ike
It's all th way from Missouri
An' all th way from Pike
It brought to me th awfullest news
That I ever did hear
Said, Sally had married a butcher
An' th butcher had red hair
VERSE 7
I looked upon th letter
An' it's enough t' make me swear
Said, Sally had a baby
Th baby had red hair
VERSE 8
But whether it was a girl or boy
Th letter never said
Th onli thing I 'member
Th babies head was red