Another version of this came to my ears recently. The melody has one or two noticeable differences, though it's out of the same family. The chorus is very similar to "Hard, Ain't It Hard," and it's quite possible the Acuff recording was the direct inspiration for the Guthrie version. One Old Shirt as sung by Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys, Vocalion 04657 (1938) One old shirt is all I've got And a dollar is all I crave Oh, I brought nothing to this whole wide world, Gonna take nothing to my grave. (chorus) Oh, ain't it hard, hard, oh, Lord, ain't it hard To love a girl that don't love you? Now come, my little pink and tell me what you think You're a long time making up your mind. Oh, you tell more lies than the stars in the skies, Sweet baby, your heart's not mine. My baby come home late hours in the night She just keeps rapping on the door I wake up in my stocking feet My baby don't rap no more. [Or perhaps the last line should go My baby, don't rap no more. Acuff doesn't sing a noticeable comma in it, though.) I love you, sweet baby, till the sea runs dry The rocks are at the sun I love you, sweet baby, till the day I die Then you may know I'm gone. I wish I was on some rocky mountain top Sitting in my big armchair With one arm around my liquor keg And the other one around my dear.
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