I'M GOING BACK TO WHERE I CAME FROM
Jessie Mae Robinson (?), c. 1944.

1
I'm going back to where I come from
Where the honeysuckle smells so sweet it durn near makes you sick
I used to think my life was hum-drum
But I sure have learned a lesson that is bound to stick
There ain't no use of me pretendin'
The city just ain't no place for a guy like me to end in
Goin' back to where I come from
Where the mockin' bird is singin' in the lilac bush.
2
I used to go down to the station
Every evenin' just to watch the Pullman train come rollin' in
And then one night, that great temptation
Got too great, so I just up and left my kith and kin
I took my hat and fourteen dollars
And I went through all the troubles of the plight that always follows
When you're rich and huntin' romance
But my huntin' days are over, I can tell you that.
3
I met a man in Kansas City
An' he winked and asked me if I'd like to step around
I said, "Why, yes, why sure, that's what I'm here for, betcha life"
So he said he'd take me to the hottest spots in town
He mentioned things he'd have to fix up
So he took my fourteen dollars but there must have been a mix-up
He's been gone since Monday evenin'
And I've gotta hunch I'll never see that guy no more.

I'm goin' bach to where I come from
Where the mockin' bird is singin' in the lilac bush.

4
When I get old and have a grandson
I'll tell him 'bout my romance, and you watch his eyes pop out
But chances are he won't believe me
So he'll do the same darn thing when he grows up, no doubt
But he can't say I didn't warn him
What will happen when he meets up with that city guy, gol darn him
I'm goin' back to where I come from
Where the mockin' bird is singin' in the lilac bush.

Spike Jones and His City Slickers, Del Porter vocal, 1944.

Jessie Mae Robinson is credited as composer by Spike Jones and several others, but I can't find it in her lists of compositions.

Jessie Mae Robinson was African-American; the first black composer to be taken up by ASCAP, who have a register of 46 of her compositions.

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