Sometimes I live in the country
Sometimes I live in town
Sometimes I get the notion
To jump in the river & drown

Ch. Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I'll see you in my dreams

Stop you're ramblin stop you're gamblin
Stop staying out late at night
Go home to your wife & family
Sit by your fireside bright

Last Saturday I got married
Me & my wife settled down
Now me & my wife have parted
Think I'll take a walk round town

I loves Irene god knows I do
love her till the sea runs dry
And if Irene turns her back on me
I'll take morphine & die

You caused me to weep you caused me to moan
You caused me to leave my home
But the very last words I heard her say
Huddie won't you sing me one last song

"When the Lomaxs' first came hunting folk songs in the southern prisons, the State Penn at Angloa, Louisiana was the first stop & the first thing they recorded was Huddie Ledbetter singing this song. Allen Lomax says that this song was the first & actual start of the Archive Of American Folk Song. Leadbelly died Dec. 6, 1949, six months later Irene became a hit & sold 2 million & was translated into every European language". Lifted from A. Lomax's Folk Songs Of North America. I also believe that this song marched in the folk music revival. Barry