Over the past 30 years or so I've heard this song played by innumerable "artists" using zillions of variations on Dave Von Ronk's version. Only recently did I finally get hold of Blind Blake's recording.   Sounds to me like he's saying the following:


Live in Chicago.   In winter and fall,
Wind cause me to wear my overalls.
Flat broke. Was my fault.
Used to eating porkchops.   (Now) I'm eating salt.
I met a women dressed in big mink (and) pearls.
Big fat mouth me followed her.
She pulled a gun and take my (joy?)
Didn't eat my heart out. I didn't get sore.


Listening to the recording, it almost sounds like he was determined to make the record on one try, no matter what. The meter is very uneven - the song starts out slow and gets faster and faster as it goes along. I get the impression he might have made some minor flubs in the words he meant to sing and just kept going. This could account for the confusion we all experience when trying to decipher just what it is he is saying.

Maybe he had just made up the song shortly before recording and the words weren't second nature yet.   (We know for sure he wasn't reading the words as he sang.)