Lyrics below are from the sheet music at UCLA. You can hear a recording by Bert Williams at The Internet Archive:

I'M "GONE" BEFORE I GO
Words by Ballard Macdonald, music by Harry Carroll. ©1916.
"As introduced in Ziegfeld Follies 1916"

1. Patri'tism always has been uppermost with me.
I used to row out ev'ry day and kiss Miss Liberty.
A friend of mine named Sam'l Brown
Who lived next door to me uptown
Had heard of war in Mexico and said: "I'm going down."
A hero he was gonna be, and march to Carrizal.
He left behind the bills he owed and also left his gal.

CHORUS 1: He said: "Goodbye;
I'm on my way to Mexico," brave as he could be.
He said his name
Would always live in history like Washington's—he meant Booker T.
I envied him,
So I enlisted when I heard those wartime bugles blow.
(Since then I heerd) That Sam Brown's body lies a-moulding in the ground; I guess I'm "gone" before I go.

2. Just the other side of me there lived another man
Who claimed from reading war news, he'd devised a better plan.
He said the foolish* heroes paid
For all the vic'tries others made,
That gumshoe work was what upset the plans the en'my laid.
The clever soldiers were the men who had the eagle eye
And never wore a uniform; said he: "I'll be a spy."

CHORUS 2: He said: "Goodbye;
I'm on my way to Mexico; see you when I'm back."
He said his name
Would always live in history like Johnson's—but he must have meant Jack.
I envied him,
And joined the service when I heard they all made heavy dough.
(Since then I heerd)
They hung my friend upon a sour apple tree; I guess I'm "gone" before I go.

3. Fifteen-sixty monthly is a common hero's pay.
The special ones get fresh-cut flow'rs on Decoration Day.
I told my boss I had to go
And quit the firm of Brown and Co.
Said he: "We'll pay you just the same while you're in Mexico."
With thirty dollars as a watchman absent from the loft,
And fifteen-sixty as a hero, army life looked soft.

CHORUS 3: I said: "Goodbye;
I'm on my way to Mexico; duty's calling me."
I said my name
Would always live in history like Sherman when he walked on the sea.
They envied me
That easy money, for I heard the other boys say so.
(Since then I heerd)
That Brown and Company went into bankruptcy; I guess I'm "gone" before I go.

[* Bert Williams sings "fallen."]