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Come all you young companions and listen unto me,
I'll tell you all a story of some bad company;
I was born in Pennsylvania among the beautiful hills,
And the memory of my childhood is warm within me still.
I did not like my fireside, I did not like my home,
I had in view far rambling and far away did roam;
I bade adieu to loved ones, to my home I said farewell
And I landed in Chicago in the very depths of hell.
It was there I took to drinking, I sinned both night and day,
And still within my bosom this feeble voice would say:
"Oh, fare you well, my loved one, may God protect my boy,
May God forever bless him throughout his manhood joy."
I courted a fair young maiden, her name I dare not tell,
For if I should ever disgrace her while now I'm doomed to hell;
It was on a beautiful evening, the stars were shining bright,
And with a fatal dagger I bade her spirit flight.
So justice overtook me, as you may plainly see,
My soul is doomed forever throughout eternity;
Oh, now I'm on the scaffold my moments are not long,
You may forget the singer, but don't forget the song.
Collected in 1951 from Mrs. Mary Dunphy [b.1906] of Tors Cove, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
A variant was also collected as Young Companions and published in 1910 by John Avery Lomax [1867-1948] in Lomax's anthology, Cowboy Songs And Other Frontier Ballads.
Also published by John Avery Lomax and his son, Alex Lomax, with the same title (Macmillan, New York, 1938).
A variant was recorded in 1925 by Kelly Harrell as I Was Born in Pennsylvania (OKeh 40544).
