Way Down The Old Plank Road
(Traditional)



I'd rather be in Richmond in all the hail and rain
Then to be in Georgia, boys, wearing that ball and chain

Won't get drunk no more
Won't get drunk no more
Won't get drunk no more
Way down the old plank road

I went down to Mobile to get on the gravel train
Very next thing they heard of me, had on the ball and chain

Doney, oh dear Doney, what makes you treat me so
Caused me to wear the ball and chain and now my ankles sore

Knoxville is a pretty place, Memphis is a beauty
If you want to see them pretty girls, now hop to Chattanoogie

I'm going to build me a scaffold on the mountain high
So I can see my pretty girl as she goes riding by

My wife died a Friday night, Saturday she was buried
Sunday was my courting day, and Monday I got married

Eighteen pounds of meat a week, whiskey here to sell
How can a young man stay at home, pretty girls look so well