II. THE LEHIGH VALLEY SEQUENCE

DOWN IN LEHIGH VALLEY

Here is the logical grandparent of all sentimental hobo
ballads. The hobo, having learned to strike a contrast
between the sentiment and the reality of his existence,
subjects "Lehigh Valley" to frequent burlesques.

Let me sit down a minute, stranger,
A stone got in my shoe-
Now don't commence your cussin'.
I ain't done nothing to you.

Yes, I'm a tramp-—-what of it?
Some says we ain't no good,
But tramps has to live, I reckon,
Tho' folks don't think we should.

Once I was young and handsome,
Had plenty of cash and clothes,
But that was before I tippled
And gin colored up my nose.

It was down in Lehigh Valley
Me and my people grew.
I was a blacksmith, captain;
Yes, and a good one, too.

Me and my wife and Nellie;
Nellie was just sixteen,
And she was the prettiest creature
The valley had ever seen.

Beaus—why she had a dozen-
Had 'em from near and fur,
But they was most of them farmers—
None of them suited her.

Then came a city stranger,
Young, handsome and tall,
Dang him, I wish I had him,
Strangled against that wall.

He was the man for Nellie,
She didn't know no ill;
Her mother tried to tell her,
But you know how a young girl will.

Well, it's the same old story;
Common enough, you'll say:
He was a smooth-tongued devil,
And he got her to run away.

It was less than a month later
That we heard from the poor young thing:
He had gone away and left her,
Without a wedding ring.

Back to our home we brought her
Back to her mother's side,
Filled with a raging fever,
She fell at our feet and died.

Frantic with grief and trouble,
Her mother began to sink.
Dead—in less than a fortnight-—
That's when I took to drink,

Give me a drink, bartender,
And I'll be on my way.
I'll tramp till I find that scoundrel,
If it takes till judgment day.


Transcribed from the PDF of The Hobo's Hornbook, page 43: http://www.horntip.com/html/books_%26_MSS/1930s/1930_the_hobos_hornbook__george_milburn_(HC)/1930_the_hobos_hornbook__george_milburn.pdf


But I don't think this is the requested song. Maybe so, maybe not. This guy's good job was as a blacksmith in the Lehigh Valley. Maybe the requester's family changed the recitation to fit Oklahoma.