Come all you good time people While I've got money to spend Tomorrow might be Monday And I'll neither have a dollar nor a friend Now when I had plenty of money, good people My friends were all standing around Just as soon as my pocketbook was empty Not a friend on this earth to be found Well, my papa taught me a-plenty, good people My mama, she told me more Saying, son if you don't quit your rough and rowdy ways You'll have trouble at your door Well I wrote my woman a letter, good people Told her I had landed in jail She wrote me back her answer Saying, honey I've no money to go your bail
All around this old jailhouse is haunted, good people Forty dollars won't pay my fine Corn whisky has surrounded my body Pretty women a-troubling my mind Boys, if you don't quit your drinking Someday you'll be just like me A workin' out your living In a penitentiary Go dig a hole in the meadow, good people Dig a hole in that cold, cold ground You can gather around all you good-time friends And see this poor rounder go down And when I am dead and buried, good people My pale face turned to the sun You can stand around and mourn, little woman And think of the way you have done