This version is fairly different from the one in the data-base. I learned this song from my grandfather, Boone Burton, who learned it from the singing of his mother, Sally McQueary. They said of my great-grandmother that "she could sing all night and all day and never sing the same song twice." Unfortunately, the family now knows only a handful of her songs. ^^

Bachelor's Hall

The boys they all dress as fine as they can
To cheat the girls is all their desire
They'll rattle and tattle and tattle and lie
And keep the girls up 'til they're ready to die

And they will arise and to them say
Oh boys I feel sleepy, I wish you'd go 'way
You're nothing but false, without a discorn (sic)
Before you get home, you'll sleep in some barn

And early next morning you will rise
Brush off the hay, wipe out your eyes
You'll mount a fine horse and home you will ride
You're nothing but false, propped up upon pride

And when you get home, you'll stagger and reel
And it's, "Curse those girls, how sleepy I feel"
If I was a man, I'd court not at all
I'd just live to myself and keep bachelor's hall

A bachelor's life, I think it the best
Lie down at night and take your own rest
No wife to scold, no children to bawl
I'd just live to myself and keep bachelor's hall

And when a girl marries, her pleasures are done
Her trials are started and her troubles come on
For the husband will quarrel and the children will cry
And it makes her red cheeks look withered and dry

If I was a man, I'd court not at all
I'd just live to myself and keep bachelor's hall