I transcribed these lyrics from the sound file at The Red Hot Jazz Archive (but it helped to listen to other versions, too – see the list below).

CRAZY BLUES
Perry Bradford

I can't sleep at night.
I can't eat a bite
'Cause the man I love, he don't treat me right.
He makes feel so blue,
I don't know what to do.
Sometimes I sit and sigh
And then begin to cry
'Cause my best friend said his last goodbye.

There's a change in the ocean, change in the deep blue sea, my baby.
I tell you folks there ain't no change in me.
My love for that man will always be.

CHORUS: Now I got the crazy blues
Since my baby went away.
I ain't got no time to lose.
I must find him today.
Now the doctor's gonna do all that he can,
But what he's gonna need is the undertaker man.
I ain't heard nothin' but bad news,
Now I got the crazy blues.

Now, I can read his letters, I sure can't read his mind.
I thought he's lovin' me. He's leavin' all the time.
Now I see my poor love was blind.

I went to the railroad, set my head on the track,
Thought about my daddy, I grabbed it gently (?) back,
Now that he's gone and gave me the sack.

CHORUS: Now I've got the crazy blues
Since my baby went away.
I ain't had no time to lose.
I must find him today.
I'm gonna do like a Chinaman, go and get some hop,
Get myself a gun, and shoot myself a cop.
I ain't had nothin' but bad news.
Now I got the crazy blues.

[As originally recorded by Mamie Smith's Jazz Hounds, 1920. The "Red Hot Jazz" website also has vocal recordings by Sissle and Blake, 1921; Mary Stafford and Her Jazz Band, 1921; and Louise Vant accompanied by Perry Bradford's Mean Four, 1926.]