a C

I went down to taneytown

G a

I went down to taneytown

C G a e G

To see what I could see



My mama told me never go

I4m almost twenty-two years old

Sometimes I feel this holler swallow me



She went off to Gettysburg

Went off with that new beau of her

I snuck off after dark

Long way down the country road

Stars were bright the moon was low

Down to where the blacktop highway starts



Everybody stared at me

You4d think that they ain4t never seen

A colored boy before

They chunked at me called me names

They4d have whipped me sure but the sheriff came

I slipped off right throught the drygoods store



I ran dowm division street

Some of them boys followed me

Down to the railroad track

Four of them an i can fight

But I had my old randall knife

I cut that boy and never looked back



B-part: D



Cross the fields and wood I ran

Like a bullet from a rabbit gun

Back home to my bed

Ma came in from Gettysburg

Her and that new beau of hers

Boy you look like hell wass all she said



A month went by without a word

Somebody down the holler heard

About that boy they hung

He begged those men to spare his life

But I dropped my bloody randall knife

He picked it up so they thought he was the one