791
THE OLD BROWN COAT

The moon is up, the stars are out,
The birds sing merrily,
Come listen while I sing about
The old brown coat and me.

I toiled upon my father’s farm
Till I was twenty-one,
I took the farm all to myself
And manhood life begun.

I fell in love with Mary Blake
Whose father kept a store,
There never was a lovelier maid,
Oh, her I did adore.

But she fell in love with Johnny Bland
Who dressed so very gay,
But when found guilty of a theft
He up and ran away.

Our children now play around the door,
They number one, two, three,
And Mary says she will always love
My old brown coat and me.


Recalled by Mrs. Effa M. Wilson, Verona, Mo., Dec. 30, 1940.


Source: Ozark Folksongs by Vance Randolph (University of Missouri Press, 1980 - Song #791, page 304 of Volume IV)