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It was down in Old Joe's barroom, |
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On the corner by the square, |
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The usual crowd was assembled |
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And big Joe McKinney was there. |
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He was standing at my shoulder. |
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His eyes were bloodshot red; |
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He turned to the crowd around him, |
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These are the very words he said: |
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"I went down to the St. James Infirmary |
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I saw my baby there, |
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She's laid out on a cold white table, |
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So so cold, so white, so fair." |
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chorus |
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"Let her go, let her go, God bless her; |
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Wherever she may be |
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She may search this wide world over |
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She'll never find a sweet man like me." |
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Oh, when I die, bury me |
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In my high top Stetson hat; |
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Put a twenty-dollar gold piece on my watch chain |
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God'll know I died standin' pat. |
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I want six crap shooters for pall bearers. |
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Chorus girl to sing me a song. |
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Put a jazz band on my hearse wagon. |
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Raise Hell as I roll along. |
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Roll out your rubber tired carriage, |
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Roll out your old time hat. |
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Twelve men going to the graveyard |
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And eleven coming back. |
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Now that I've told my story, |
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I'll take another shot of booze. |
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And if anyone should happen to ask you, |
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I've got those gamblers' blues. |
