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lyrics

John Hardy married him a loving little wife
The dress she wore was blue
She threw her arms around Johnny's neck
Says, "Johnny, I'll be true to you, poor boy”
Says, "Johnny, I'll be true to you.”

John Hardy was a-standing in the barroom door
So drunk he could not see
When the police came and they took him by the arm
Says, "Johnny, come and go with me,” poor boy
Says, "Johnny, come and go with me.”

John Hardy's mother came to him
Says, "Johnny what have you done?"
"I've killed me a man in the poker game
And I'm standing on the barrel of my gun, Lord, Lord
I'm standing on the barrel of my gun."

"I've been to the east, I've been to the west,
I've been this wide world 'round;
I've been to the river and I've been baptized,
So take me to the hanging ground,” poor boy
"Oh, take me to the hanging ground."

credits

from Survey of Traditional Music, Vol. 4: The Anglo​-​African Exchange, released August 7, 2023
Recorded by Mark Wilson, Winchester, KY, 3/73.

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Field Recorders' Collective

The Field Recorders’ Collective is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and distribution of noncommercial recordings of traditional American music, material that is unavailable to the general public.

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