Cat. #0059 (MFH #347) - As sung by Mrs. Allie Long Parker, Eureka Springs, Arkansas on April 14, 1958
VERSE 1
When first to this country
A stranger I came
I courted a fair maid
Pretty Susie by name
Th frowns that she gave me
Were enough for to kill
Says I, my dear Susie
I yet love you still
VERSE 2
O, Susie my jewel
They say you are rich
Tho I have no great fortune
That troubles me much
Won't you forsake your kind Father
And Mother also
And away o'er this wide world
With my darling I'd go
VERSE 3
O Willie, O Willie,
That never would do
To forsake my kind parents
An' ramble with you
My friends an' relation
Would mourn for my sake
They would say I had left them
An' followed a rake
VERSE 4
Some say, that I'm rakey
Others say, I am wild
Others say, that I'm guilty
Pretty maid to beguile
But I'll prove them all liers
By th powers above
That I'm guilty of nothing
But inocent love
VERSE 5
I can love like a landlady
I can let love alone
I can court an old sweetheart
Till a new one comes on
I can hug them an' kiss them
To keep their hearts kind
Or I can turn my back on them
An' alter my mind
VERSE 6
Now, away to Louisana
My boat I will steer
On them mossy banks there
Pretty maids will appear
But I'll rock them like a nation
And them I'll disdain
I'll go back to old Missouri
See Sally again