THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND

I's brought up with loving care on a farm in Tennessee
My parents raised me tenderly; they had no child but me
My mind being set on rambling, with them I couldn't agree
So I left my aged parents and them no more to see

There was a wealthy gentleman lived on a farm nearby
He had a beautiful daughter, on her I cast my eye
She was so tall and slender, so pretty and so fair
There never was another to her I could compare

I started out in this wide world strange faces for to see
I met Miss Maggie Walker and she fell in love with me
Her pockets all lined in greenbacks and on the Book I swore
If she'd be mine and only mine, that I would roam no more

I asked her if it mattered if I crossed over the plains
She said, It doesn't matter if you never come home again
I knew by the way she said it she'd never change her mind
So we shook hands and parted and I left that girl behind

I started out on leaving, to the saltworks I were bound
And when I reached the saltworks, I viewed the city all round
The money and work were plentiful, and the girls were kind to me
But the only object to my mind was that girl in Tennessee

I started out one morning down on the market square
The mail train were arriving, I met the carrier there
He handed me a letter so's I could understand
That the girl I left behind me had married to another man

I turned my horse all around and round, not knowing what to do
I handed back the letter, although I'd read it through
I turned all round and backed up, and the company I resigned
And I drove all around from town to town for the girl I left behind

This version is from Jim Ringer's Folk-Legacy record.
@parting @infidelity
DT #338
Laws P1
filename[ GIRLEFT2
JN
mudcat.org

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