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The Rich Old Lady 
The Rich Old Lady 
Once I knowed old lady Round Tennessee did dwell She had a lovin' husband But she loved other mens as well 
cho: Love my darlin' O Love my darlin' O 
"I'm goin' down to the doctor's shop Just as straight as I can go. See if I can't find sumpen 'round that place That'll run my husband blind. 
She only found two marrowbones An' she told them to eat them all An says, "Now I'm blind my dear young wife An' I jes' can't see at all." 
"Honey, I would go and drown myself If I only knew the way." Says," Now my dear come and go with me Mother's fraid you'll run astray." 
Goes way down by the riverside For to see her old man drown. "My dear kind wife, I cannot drown Unless you shove me in." 
She gits way back, takes a little runnin' start Gonna shove her old man in; Old man jumps just a little to one side And a-headlong she jumps in. 
She whoops and she hollers Just as loud as any woman could squall; Old man knows his sweet wife's dyin' An' cannot see at all. 
Ol' man bein' so kind-hearted Knowin' too his sweet wife could not swim, Reahed right down and git a long pole 
And he shoves her further in. 
Come all you young, hasty women An' take warnin' after me, Don't never try to drown a po' old man That's blind so he cannot see. 
From Our Singing Country, Lomax. Collected from Iron Head (James Baker), Sugarland TX 1934 Laws Q2 DT #334 apr97