[00:20.75]My name is John Johanna;
[00:23.25]I came from Buffalo town
[00:26.10]For nine long years I've traveled
[00:28.09]this wide, wide world around
[00:30.76]Through ups and downs and miseries,
[00:33.03]and some good days I saw
[00:35.61]But I never knew what misery was '
[00:38.02]til I went to Arkansas
[00:40.66]I went up to the station,
[00:42.76]the operator to find
[00:45.24]Told him my situation
[00:47.57]and where I wanted to ride
[00:50.02]Said, "Hand me down five dollars, lad;
[00:52.51]A ticket you shall draw
[00:54.84]That'll land you safe by railway
[00:57.15]in the state of Arkansas"
[00:59.72]I rode up to the station
[01:01.95]and chanced to meet a friend
[01:04.47]Alan Catcher was his name
[01:06.58]although they called him Cain
[01:09.06]His hair hung down in rat tails
[01:11.43]below his under-jaw
[01:13.78]He said he run the best hotel
[01:16.28]in the state of Arkansas
[01:18.61]I followed my companion
[01:20.79]to his respective place
[01:23.39]Saw pity and starvation
[01:25.77]was pictured on his face
[01:27.93]His bread was old corn dodgers;
[01:30.43]His beef I could not chaw
[01:32.90]He charged me fifty cents a day
[01:35.22]in the state of Arkansas
[01:56.45]I got up that next morning
[01:58.65]to catch that early train
[02:00.97]He says, "Don't be in a hurry, lad;
[02:03.42]I have some land to drain
[02:05.87]You'll get your fifty cents a day
[02:08.11]and all that you can chaw
[02:10.49]You'll find yourself a different lad
[02:12.85]when you leave old Arkansas"
[02:15.15]I worked six weeks for the son of a gun;
[02:17.48]Alan Catcher was his name
[02:19.76]He stood seven feet two inches,
[02:22.01]as tall as any crane
[02:24.47]I got so thin on sassafras tea,
[02:26.91]I could hide behind a straw
[02:28.95]You bet I was a different lad
[02:31.36]when I left old Arkansas
[02:33.99]Farewell, you old swamp rabbits,
[02:36.09]also you dodger pills
[02:38.44]Likewise you walking skeletons,
[02:40.82]you old sassafras eels
[02:43.31]If you ever see my face again,
[02:45.57]I'd hand you down my paw
[02:47.90]I'd be looking through a telescope
[02:50.06]from home to Arkansas
[02:51.91]