Collected by Sue Holley and
Sung by Mr. Frank Poole Fayetteville, Arkansas August 4, 1959
Helen McAllister For Mary Celestia Parler Transcribed by Sue Holley
and Helen McAllister
Reel 290, Item 7
The Old Missouri
Well it’s old Missouri, old Missouri
In the state where I was born
In the county of London
Near the Paris downfall
It was on some distant island
Bound down like a slave
It was in my own country
Where I did misbehave.
parents they taught me When I were young To leave off whiskey drinking Bad company shun Saying son you are young And it will lead you astray Those words you will remember When I'm laid in my grave.
Oft times I've wondered How women love men More times than I've wondered How men could love them It will cause you some trouble By a certain downfall It will cause you to labor Behind the stone wall.
If my Maggie was on the shipboard Along side of me Those iron hobbles off I would think myself free But there's my mother and father Who would shed many a tear But now comes awful hardships To part from my dear.