Huddie Ledbetter (from Rise Up Singing)

Pick a Bale o' Cotton
Oh Lordy (Julie), pick a bale o' cotton
O Lordy, (Julie) pick a bale a day (repeat)

G - - D / G - D G ://4x

Gonna get on my knees and pick...
Gonna jump, jump, jump down, pick...
Gonna jump down, turn around...
Me & my gal gonna pick...
Me an' my buddy gonna ...
I b'lieve to my soul I can ...
Went to Corsicana to ...

Gonna pick-a pick-a pick-a pick-a pick a bale o'cotton
Gonna pick-a pick-a pick-a pick-a pick a bale a day
Gonna pick-a pick-a pick-a pick-a pick a bale o' cotton
We're gonna jump down turn around pick a bale a day.

Lomax said it was sung medium slowly in the field, but Ledbetter "made a party song out of it by speeding it up & adding guitar." Rise Up Singing, 1988, 1992, p. 56.