I have been a man of constant sorrows
Lord, it's been trouble all my days
I'll bid farewell to Fentress County
To the place I was born and raised
Farewell dear girl. I'm bound to leave you
You may think I'm doing you wrong
But nature binds on me to ramble
And leave this home, where I've been so long.
Kind miss, kind miss go and ask your mother
If you can be a bride of mine
If she says yes, then come and tell me
If she says no, I'll go away
But I'm bound to ride that Southern railroad
I aim to go one thousand miles
Oh while you were sleeping, while you were slumbering
I am sleeping in the clay