This is "Seven Long Years," the only entry for #351 in the Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore. The book has 11 entries for #350, "Prisoner's Song" - the Dalhart song.
-Joe Offer-

Seven Long Years
Contributed by P. D. Midgett of Wanchese, Roanoke Island (North Carolina), in 1920.

I have a father and a mother
That dwell in a cottage by the sea.
I have a brother and a sister.
I wonder if they ever think of me.

Chorus:
Sad, sad and lonely,
Sitting in a cell all alone,
Thinking of the days that have gone by me
And the time when I done wrong.

Seven, seven long years in state prison,
Seven, seven long years to remain,
For knocking a man down the alley
And swiping his gold watch and chain.

If I had the wings of a sparrow
Across this wide world I would fly,
I'd fly to the arms of my darling,
There I would lay me down and die.