Lyr Req: older/raunchier 'Frankie and Johnny'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: older/raunchier 'Frankie and Johnny'
From: Charley Noble
Date: 18 Oct 18 - 10:19 AM

I'm not seeing one verse here that my mother used to sing, from Frankie's trial:

They didn't charge Frankie in the first degree;
They didn't charge her in the third:
Frankie just went and shot her man
Like a hunter drops a bird;
He was her man,
But he was doing her wrong!

Cheerily,
Charlie Ipcar

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: older/raunchier 'Frankie and Johnny'
From: Lighter
Date: 16 Oct 18 - 08:40 AM

If, as Legman says, Jones's lyrics were written out in 1927, the "1908" date loses some of its authority.   

Another "raunchy" text also appeared in 1927, with no source information, , in the anonymously published "Immortalia."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: older/raunchier 'Frankie and Johnny'
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 15 Oct 18 - 10:00 PM

Where did Randolph get Omaha 1908?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: older/raunchier 'Frankie and Johnny'
From: Lighter
Date: 15 Oct 18 - 09:33 PM

Legman:

"I obtained this song in the form of an unexpurgated pencil manuscript by a Negro pianist and singer, the late Palmer Jones, who stated that he had been taught to sing it by the exonerated murderess, Frankie Baker, herself, in the early 1900's. The manuscript - laboriously hand-written in 1927, when I was ten years old and can therefore hardly take much credit for it - was given to me by the late Robert Carlton Brown, who got it from Hilaire Hiler, for whose father Palmer Jones had originally written it out."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: older/raunchier 'Frankie and Johnny'
From: Lighter
Date: 15 Oct 18 - 09:23 PM

Randolph's editor, Gershon Legman, was the collector of Jones's version.

The substance of the passage:

"In 1960, I supplied Alan Lomax with the oldest and best text of 'Frankie and Albert' ever collected (Omaha, Nebraska, 1908), from a Negro pianist and guitarist, Palmer Jones, whose main dates of activity were in Birmingham, Alabama, about 1904. Lomax printed this in his Folk Songs of North America (1960) pp. 557-58 and 569-70 - with over thirty editorial improvements, including changing the .41 gun to a .44; and also expurgating mild profanity, such as 'you faithless son of a bitch,' into long dashes with an *extra stanza* added at the end by Lomax from some other, unknown source, and with music not connected or collected with the text. Lomax also amusingly referred to the source of the original hand-written manuscript I supplied him as 'My present informant, Palmer Jones,' though Jones had been dead since 1928 when I was eleven years old, and Lomax not much older. ...

"I do feel that I should at least make up here for his one worst blunder: the omission of the single and rather crucial stanza 8, containing all the very mild sexual action in the song, as differentiated from the murder details, *none* of which were omitted:

"Then Frankie went down to the corner,
Didn't mean no harm,
Looked right up in a furnished room,
Saw her Albert in Alice's arms.
He was her man, he was doing her wrong."

Clearly Legman had not gotten the manuscript from Jones himself.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: older/raunchier 'Frankie and Johnny'
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 15 Oct 18 - 08:34 PM

Possibly Jones wrote the lyrics out for one person in Omaha in 1908 and another in Europe in 1927.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: older/raunchier 'Frankie and Johnny'
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 15 Oct 18 - 08:19 PM

Hilaire Hiler's father was Meyer Harzberg, born in the 1860s. He was in show business and he did travel to France, where Palmer Jones settled.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: older/raunchier 'Frankie and Johnny'
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 15 Oct 18 - 08:05 PM

"[...] Randolph says, 'In 1960, I supplied Alan Lomax with the oldest and best text of "Frankie and Albert" ever collected (Omaha, Nebraska, 1908), from a Negro pianist and guitarist, Palmer Jones, whose main dates of activity were in Birmingham, Alabama, about 1904. Lomax printed this in his Folk Songs of North America (1960)[...] with over thirty editorial [changes]...."

Palmer Jones was born in Alabama in about 1887 and e.g. cowrote the blues tune "Going South," copyright 1914. I don't know how we reconcile Randolph's comments with what Gershon Legman wrote in 1962:
"In Alan Lomax's[...] _The Folk Songs Of North America[...] a text is given of 'Frankie And Albert'[....] I obtained this song in the form of an unexpurgated pencil manuscript by[...] Palmer Jones[....] The manuscript was[...] handwritten in 1927[.... It] was given to me by the late Robert Carlton Brown, who got it from Hilaire Hiler, for whose father Palmer Jones had originally written it out."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: older/raunchier 'Frankie and Johnny'
From: Joe_F
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 07:59 PM

Gurney: It's in Tawney's collection _Grey Funnel Lines_. More than a hint of homosexuality; it's a young sailor he's betraying her with. And no rooty-toot-toot for her; she steals a ship's gun and blows up the whole bar.

My favorite stanza in F&J is, I suppose, mildly profane:

First time she shot him, he staggered.
Next time she shot him, he fell.
Last time she shot her lover,
There was a new man's face in Hell.
He was her man, etc.

I intend to use that line if certain people predecease me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: older/raunchier 'Frankie and Johnny'
From: Gurney
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 07:42 PM

The Royal Navy variant 'Stripey and Blondie' adds a whole spectrum of new slants, hints of homosexuality, fantasy, mass murder, women imprisoned in naval prisons, attempts to shoot down ghosts, things like that. Cyril Tawney sang it, but I'm unsure if he recorded it.

C'm'ere and I'll tell you a story,
It's all about Malta, you know.
It's all about a Valletta-bound jane,
and a feller called Stripey Joe.

He was her man.
He was doing her wrong.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: older/raunchier 'Frankie and Johnny'
From: PoppaGator
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 01:14 PM

This is the first time I've looked back into this thread since asking my question about the bulldog's bark.

Thanks for the answer, Dick!

Question: 27 Jan 05
Answer: 06 Feb 07
Questioner gets the answer: 19 Dec 08

Ain't Mudcat something?!?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: older/raunchier 'Frankie and Johnny'
From: GUEST,Paul Slade
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 05:46 AM

Does anyone know of a recording which uses any version of the raunchy lyrics above?

Subject: Lyr Add: FRANKIE'S MAN JOHNNY (Johnny Cash)
From: GUEST
Date: 25 May 07 - 01:26 PM

The Cash version is pretty humorous.


FRANKIE'S MAN JOHNNY
Words by Johnny Cash; music traditional.
As recorded by Johnny Cash on "The Fabulous Johnny Cash" (1958)

Well, now, Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts; they were true as a blue, blue sky.
He was a long-leggèd guitar picker with a wicked wanderin' eye,
But he was her man, nearly all o' the time.

Well, Johnny, he packed up to leave her, but he promised he'd be back.
He said he had a little pickin' to do a little farther down the track.
He said: "I'm your man; I wouldn't do you wrong."

Well, Frankie curled up on the sofa, thinkin' about her man.
Far away, the couples were dancin' to the music of his band.
He was Frankie's man; he wasn't doin' her wrong.

Then in the front door walked a redhead; Johnny saw right away.
She came down by the bandstand to watch him while he played.
He was Frankie's man, but she was far away.

He sang ev'ry song to the redhead; she smiled back at him.
Then he came and sat at her table where the lights were low and dim.
What Frankie didn't know wouldn't hurt her none.

Then the redhead jumped up and slapped him; she slapped him a time or two.
She said: "I'm Frankie's sister, and I was checkin' up on you.
If you're her man, you better treat her right."

Well, the moral of this story is be good but carry a stick.
Sometimes it looks like a guitar picker just can't tell what to pick.
He was Frankie's man, and he still ain't done her wrong.

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 04:42 PM

re "bulldog bark"

Bulldogs (the canine kind) don't bark.
There was a popular short barrelled revolver style called a "bulldog". They did bark.

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 03:49 PM

My Dad sings this to us still as we sit around the campfire during the summer. He used to play it on the guitar. Does anyone know the chords for this song?

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Feb 07 - 10:43 PM

I sing this every time I pass one of the chain of pseudo 'New York Italian Family restaurants that we have here in the UK. They tend to be near cinema complexes and any Hollywood Bowling alley. The name of the restaurants means that the song comes out slightly differently. Altogether now...

Frankie and Benny were lovers....

LTS

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: GUEST,loml
Date: 03 Feb 07 - 12:35 PM

try the 50's version by a skiffle singer named Lonnie Donigan from Britan

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: GUEST,mick
Date: 28 Jan 05 - 10:15 AM

Earl's version mentions Frankie spending "a hundred dollars on a suit a suit of clothes" for Jonny . Stagolee spent the same amount for his suit according to Woody Guthrie: "Stagolee was a bad man ,everybody knows/ spent a hundred dollars on just one suit of clothes."

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: PoppaGator
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 01:27 PM

Back on 11 Feb 03, Q gave us a version including this verse:

Way down in some dark alley
I heard a bulldog bark,
I believe to my soul my honey
Is lost out in the dark,
He is my man, but he won't come home.

I was reminded of the opening lyrics to "Stagger Lee" as recorded in the 50s by Lloyd Price (I was standing/On the corner/When I heard that bulldog bark..."), and immediately started to wonder if there is some symbolism or traditional meaning to the bulldog's bark.

Any ideas?

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: Lighter
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 12:08 PM

Robert W. Gordon had collected well over 100 versions by 1927, few of them especially "raunchy." But the degree of variation is still amazing.

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 12:04 PM

Johnny Cash did a great version.

Frankie and Johnny were lovers, true as the blue blue sky
Frankie was a long legged guitar picker with a wicked wanderin' eye
He was her man; nearly all of the time.

Etc.

Giok

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: GUEST,dp
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 11:31 AM

I found the lyrics at www.bluegrassmessengers.com/master/frankie10.html.

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 04:59 PM

That newer version of the tale/song was by Bob Gibson and Shel Silverstein. That's where the Serendipity people got it---from Bob's singing with his big 12-string.

Art

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 04:09 PM

Well, I'd start by looking at the links near the top of this thread, under "Related Threads".

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From:
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 03:42 PM

Anybody have or know where I can find the lyrics from the New Frankie and Johnny (if 60's in considered new!) by the Serendipity singers?

I can find a million versions of the standard text.

Dave

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 11 Feb 03 - 06:15 PM

Any help appreciated. Some of our old, basic classics are poorly treated in Mudcat, with a changed and reduced version in the DT by some popular group that changes the whole emphasis of the original. On the other hand, many of the classics from the British Isles are there in abundance - which is great.

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Feb 03 - 04:55 PM

Guest Q-

You're doing great! I'm beginning to feel guilty about not typing some of this up myself. It is nice, though, to complete the story in a thread like this.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: Lyr Add: FRANKIE AND JOHNNY (ALBERT)
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 11 Feb 03 - 03:41 PM

Lyr. Add: FRANKIE AND JOHNNY (ALBERT)

Frankie was a good girl
Ev'ry body knows,
She paid a half a hundred,
For Albert a suit of clothes,
He is my man, but he won't come home.

Way down in some dark alley
I heard a bulldog bark,
I believe to my soul my honey
Is lost out in the dark,
He is my man, but he won't come home.

Frankie went to the bartender,
Called for a bottle of beer,
Ask the bartender my loving Albert,
Has he been here?
He is my man, but he won't come home.

Bartender said to Frankie
I can't tell you a lie,
He left here about an hour ago
With a girl called Alice Bly,
He is your man, but he's doing you wrong.

Frankie went up Fourth Street,
Come back down on Main,
Looking up on the second floor
Saw Albert in another girl's arms
Saying he's my man, but he's doing me wrong.

Frankie says to Albert,
Baby, don't you run!
If you don't come to the one you love
I'll shoot you with your own gun,
You are my man, but you're doing me wrong.

Frankie she shot Albert,
He fell upon the floor,
Says turn me over easy,
And turn me over slow,
I'm your man, but you shot me down.

Early the next morning
Just about half past four
Eighteen inches of black crape sic)
Was hanging on Frankie's door,
Saying he was my man, but he wouldn't come home.

Frankie went over to Mis' Moodie's,
Fell upon her knees,
Says forgive me, Mis' Moodie,
Forgive me, oh do please.
How can I, when he's my only son?

Frankie went down to the graveyard,
Police by her side,
When she saw the one she loved
She hollered and she cried,
He was my man, but he wouldn't come home.

Police say to Frankie
No use to holler and cry,
When you shot the one you loved
You meant for him to die,
He's your man, but he's dead and gone.

Rubber-tired buggy,
Silver-mounted hack,
Took Albert to the graveyard
But couldn't bring him back,
He was my man, but he wouldn't come home.

From Mrs. John F. Smith, Elkins, Arkansas, 1930 ("version was known to her great-grandmother").
Legman says, "this excellent old text, one of the only few known of the original version of the song," was published in Randolph, "Ozark Folksongs," vol. 2, pp. 125-136 No. 159A, with music (text copied from there). Also published in "Ozark Life", July 1930.
In "Roll Me in Your Arms," Legman says that "the original song, dating from 1899 to about 1912, can be identified by these three features, if not four: A) The text begins 'Frankie was a good woman (girl),' B) Her pimp's name is Albert, not Johnny, C) The gun she shoots him with ...is a Colt .41...." D),In two of the three best three original texts recovered, there is the occult text that ....she hears her '(pet) bulldog bark.'" "....the bulldog unquestionably representing his lost soul."

In 1911, a vaudeville team, the Leighton Brothers rewrote the existing song ..." changing the "murdered pimp's name from Albert (actually Allen Britt) to Johnny, for the first time." The song was copyrighted in 1912, crediting the words to the Leightons and the music to Ren Shields, and became a national hit.
These later texts differ in that the first verse is omitted, the pimp's name is Johnny, the gun is a .44 and always mentioned, and there is no mention of the bulldog barking in the dark alley (from Legman, op. cit.).

Subject: Lyr Add: ANNIE AND JOHNNY (version of FRANKIE &...
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 11 Feb 03 - 01:47 PM

Legman, rather than Randolph, should be credited with the comments in my post of 10 Feb 03, 9:00 pm. Here is another version:

Lyr. Add: ANNIE AND JOHNNY

Annie went down to the corner,
To get a bottle of beer,
She said to the dammed old bartender,
Has my ever-loving Johnny been here?
He is my man, but I think he's doing me wrong.

I ain't going to tell you no stories,
I ain't going to tell you no lies,
Johnny was seting under the counter
Finger-fucking Nellie Blythe.
He was her man, but he was doing her wrong.

Annie looked over the counter,
And seen to her alarm,
Johnny wasn't using his finger,
He was using his whole damn arm.
He was her man, but he was doing her wrong.

Annie stepped away from the counter,
And drew both her forty-fours,
She shot once, twice, and three times,
She had Johnny on the floor.
He was her man, but he had done her wrong.

First shot Johnny staggered,
Second shot Johnny fell,
Third shot hit Johnny in the left nut
And blew it all to hell.
He was her man, but he had done her wrong.

Collected from a Bentonville, Arkansas student by Mary Celeste Parler (later Randolph's wife) in ca. 1957. From Vance Randolph, ed. G. Legman, 1992, "Roll Me in Your Arms, 'Unprintable' Ozark Folksongs and Folklore," vol. 1, p. 481.
No indication of where the student got this version (was it his?). In court, Frankie testified that she fired only once, in self-defense. This one reads like an "improved" text to me.
Legman says all the texts agree that she shot three times. It would be interesting to get the testimony from the trial for a more accurate (?) story of the event.

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 10 Feb 03 - 09:00 PM

In addition to the songs, the comments by Randolph are worth the price of admission (about $90 at present).
In his discussion of Frankie and Johnny, Randolph says, "In 1960, I supplied Alan Lomax with the oldest and best text of "Frankie and Albert" ever collected (Omaha, Nebraska, 1908), from a Negro pianist and guitarist, Palmer Jones, whose main dates of activity were in Birmingham, Alabama, about 1904. Lomax printed this in his Folk Songs of North America (1960)... under the abbreviated title -Frankie- to get rid of the unfashionable Albert- with over thirty editorial improvements, including changing the .41 gun to a .44; and also expurgating mild profanity, such as "you faithless son of a bitch," into long dashes, with an extra stanza added at the end from some other, unknown source, and with music not connected or collected with the text. Lomax also amusingly referred to the source of the original hand-written manuscript I supplied him as 'my present informant, Palmer Jones,' although Jones had been dead since 1928, when I was eleven years old and Lomax not much older."

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 10 Feb 03 - 08:36 PM

As noted in a previous thread, the case dates from 1899, when Frankie Baker shot Allen Britt (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). He died four days after the shooting. Frankie claimed self-defense and was aquitted. In 1939, she sued Republic Pictures, producers of "Frankie and Johnny," for invasion of privacy and defamation of character. The suit was dismissed in 1942.
Details from Randolph, op. cit., previous posting.

Subject: RE: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From: Charley Noble
Date: 10 Feb 03 - 08:34 PM

And Vance Randolph has several other versions as well and excellent discussion by editor G. Legman.

Charley Noble

Subject: Lyr Add: FRANKIE AND JOHNNY (Vance Randolph)
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 10 Feb 03 - 08:26 PM

Lyr. Add: FRANKIE AND JOHNNY (Gordon MS)

Frankie and Johnny were lovers,
So everybody knew,
She was his lovin' sweetheart-
My God, how that gal could screw.
He was her man, and she treated him square.

Frankie took care of her Johnny,
She gave him a gold watch and chain,
She staked his crap games in Frisco
And fed him until luck came again.
For he was her man, and she loved him true.

Johnny chased the other women,
Took to chasin' Alice Fry,
While Frankie sat and waited,
Not thinkin' her Johnny'd lie.
For he was her man, and she tho't he was square.

One day in Doc Shehan's Alley,
A friend to Frankie said,
Your Johnny-boy's a gash-hound,
Sportin' on a whore house bed.
He is your man, but he's doin' you wrong.

Frankie went down to the whore house,
She rang that whore house bell,-
Stand aside you pimps and whores,
Or I'll blow you all to hell.
He is my man and he's doin' me wrong.

Frankie looked over the transom,
Goddam your soul, I'll shoot!
And she pulled her forty-five-
The Colt went rooty-toot-toot!
For he was her man, an he was doin' her wrong.

She shot him once, she shot him twice,
Hit the middle of his big black ass;
The whores and pimps huddled there,
Waitin' for his soul to pass.
For he was her man, and he was doin' her wrong.

Johnny got shot in the ass hole,
He saw his life-blood flow,-
Lord a'mighty, sweetheart gal,
An ass full of lead hurts so.
But I was your man, and I done you wrong.

Turn me over easy, Oh, Lord!
Turn me over slow, oh!
Lord God a'mighty, boys,
It hurts to turn me, oh!
I was her man, and I done her wrong.

And Johnny said to the pimps and whores
Who gathered 'round his side,
I double-crossed my lovin' gal-
Then wiggled his ass and died.
He was her man, but he done her wrong.

Silver-handled, plush-lined casket,
A rubber-tired hack,
Takin' Johnny to the graveyard,
And bringin' nothin' back.
For he was her man, and he done her wrong.

Vance Randolph, 1992, "Roll Me In Your Arms, "'Unprintable' Ozark Folksongs and Folklore," vol. 1, no. 153, pp. 477-484, Univ. Arkansas Press. MS apparently supplied from Cornell Univ., in 1931, "by the hobo-song specialist, Godfrey Owen, who said he heard it on a ranch near Boise, ID, between 1912-1912."

Subject: RE: older/raunchier
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 08 Dec 97 - 12:37 PM

Only thing I can add to that is:

They brought a rubber-tired buggy
They brought a rubber-tired hack
Took Johnny out to the graveyard
But she brought his pecker back
Best part of the man
Who done her wrong

Subject: Lyr Add: FRANKIE AND JOHNNY (Ed Cray)
From: Earl
Date: 08 Dec 97 - 12:46 AM

You've come to the right place. There are many versions of this great American song. "The Erotic Muse" by Ed Cray lists four raunchy versions, here's the first:

Frankie and Johnny were lovers;
Oh, Lordy, how they made love
Swore to be true to each other
True as the stars above
For he was her man,
But he done her wrong

Frankie was a good girl
Most everybody knows
She gave a hundred dollars
To Johnny for a suit of clothes.
'Cause he was here man
but he done her wrong

Frankie workied in a crib-joint
Behind a grocery store
She gave all her money to Johnny
He spent it on high-tone whores.
God damn his soul
He done her wrong

Frankie was a fucky hussy,
That's what all the pimps said,
And they kept her so damn busy,
She never got out of bed
But he done her wrong
God damn his soul

Frankie, she knowed her business
She hung out a sign on the door
"Fresh fish cost you a dollar here
Fancy fucking cost ten cent more."
He was her man
He done her wrong

Frankie went down to Fourth Street
She ordered a glass of beer
Said to the big bartendin man,
"Has my ever-lovin' man been here?"
God damn his soul
He done her wrong.

"I couldn't tell you no story.
I couldn't tell you no lie
I saw your Johnny an hour ago
With a whore called Alice Bly.
God damn his soul,
He was don' you wrong

Frankie ran back to her crib-joint
Fixin' to do him some harm
She took out a bindle of horse
And shot it right up her arm
God damn his soul
He was doing her wrong

Frankie put on her kimono;
This time it wasn't for fun
'Cause right underneath it
Was a great big forty-four gun
God damn his soul
He done her wrong

She ran along Fish Alley
Looked in a window so high,
Saw her lovin' Johnny
Finger-fucking Alice Bly.
He was doin her wrong
God damn his soul.

Frankie went to the front door.
She rang the whore house bell
"Stand back you pimps and whores
Or I'll blow you straight to hell.
I'm hunting my man.
Who's doin' me wrong.

Frankie drew back her kimono,
Pulled out her big forty-four.
Tooty-toot-toot, three times she shoot
Left him lyin on that whorehouse floor
. She shot her man
'Cause he done her wrong.

"Roll me over Frankie
Roll me over slow.
A bullet got me in my right side,
Oh God, it hurts me so.
You killed your man
Cause I done your wrong."

Frankie ran back to her crib-joint
She fell across the bed.
Sayin "Lord, oh Lord, I've shot my man
I've shot my Johnny dead.
He was my man
God damn his soul

Three little pieces of crepe
Hanging on the crib-joint door
Signifies that Johnny
Will never be a pimp no more
God damn his soul
He done her wrong.

"Bring out your rubber tired buggy.
Bring out your rubber tired hack.
I'm taking my man to the graveyard;
I ain't gonna bring him back.
He was my man
But he done me wrong."

They brought a rubber-tired buggy
They brought a rubber-tired hack
Thirteen pimps went to the cemetery
But only twelve came back
He's dead and gone
He was doin her wrong

Frankie went out to the graveyard
Sorry as she could be
Ridin behind a whorehouse band
Playin "Nearer My God to Thee."
He was her man
He was doing her wrong

Frankie stood up in the courtroom
"I'm not talkin no sass
I didn't shoot Johnny in the first degree.
I shot him in his big black ass
He was my man
He was doin me wrong

The judge said "Stand up Frankie,
Stand up and dry your tears.
You know murder's a hanging crime
But I'll give your ninety-nine years
He was your man
But he was doin you wrong.

The last time I saw Frankie
She was ridin on that train
Takin her to the jail house
Never bring her back again
. He was her man
God damn his soul

Subject: older/raunchier "Frankie and Johnny" lyrics
From:
Date: 07 Dec 97 - 11:29 PM

I'm not sure if I'm crying out for lyric help the right way. This internet stuff is all new to me, but I know there are older and nastier lyrics to "Frankie and Johnnie"--I heard them. They're great, but I can't find them. Thanks if you can help. Take care, even if you can't. Ta ta.