SINSULL, I really like your answer. I am the only person I know of who actually sings that song any more. I first heard it not from Red Foley but from Elvis Presley. It was on his second LP in about 1954, the first LP I remember buying. By the 1970s I'd lost track of it and couldn't find lyrics for it anywhere. One day I walked into Main Music in Skokie, IL, and Jethro Burns was seated behind the counter leaned back with his feet up on the counter. Thinking that Jethro might actually know the lyrics, I asked if he knew them. Jethro's eyes widened in astonishment and his jaw dropped open. "Old Shep?" he whined in genuine astonishment. If he knew the lyrics, he wasn't about to admit it. He seemed amazed that anyone would want to know.

To me a good candidate for the saddest murder balled is Delia's Gone...

Shot my Delia on a Christmas night,
The very first time I shot her she hung her head and died,
Delia's gone (one more round) Delia's gone (one more round),
Delia's gone (one more round) Delia's gone.

Sent for the doctor, doctor come too late,
Sent for the burying man to lay out Delia straight,
Delia's gone (one more round) Delia's gone (one more round),
Delia's gone (one more round) Delia's gone.

That one always gets me.

      - Mark