My parents raised me tenderly,
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They had no child but me.
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My mind being placed on rambling,
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With them I couldn't agree
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Just to leave my aged parents
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And them no more to see.
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There was a wealthy gentleman
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Who lived there very near by.
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He had a beautiful daughter,
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On her I cast an eye.
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She was so tall and slender,
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So pretty and so fair.
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There never was a girl in this whole wide world
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With her I could compare.
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I asked her if it differed
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If I crossed over the plain.
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She said, "It makes no difference
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If you never return again."
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We too shook hands and parted,
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And I left my girl behind.
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I started out in this wide world
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Strange faces for to see.
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I met little Maggie Walker
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And she fell in love with me.
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Her pockets all lined with greenback
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And her labor I'll grow old,
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Now if you'll consent to marry me
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I'll say I'll roam no more.
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I traveled out one morning,
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To the salt works I were bound.
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And when I reached the salt works
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I viewed the city all around.
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Work and money were plentiful
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And the girls all kind to me.
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But the only object to my heart
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Was a girl in Tennessee.
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I traveled out one morning
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Down on the market square.
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The mail train being on arrival,
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I met the carrier there.
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He handed me a letter,
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So's I could understand
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That the girl I left in Tennessee
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Had married another man.
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I drove on down a little further
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And found that it was true.
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I turned my horse and buggy around
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But I didn't know what to do.
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I turned all around and about there --
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Bad company I'll resign;
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I'll drive all about from town to town
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For the girl I left behind.
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Maggie Walker Blues
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Doc Watson |