My name is John Johanna;
I came from Buffalo town
For nine long years I've traveled
this wide, wide world around
Through ups and downs and miseries,
and some good days I saw
But I never knew what misery was '
til I went to Arkansas
I went up to the station,
the operator to find
Told him my situation
and where I wanted to ride
Said, "Hand me down five dollars, lad;
A ticket you shall draw
That'll land you safe by railway
in the state of Arkansas"
I rode up to the station
and chanced to meet a friend
Alan Catcher was his name
although they called him Cain
His hair hung down in rat tails
below his under-jaw
He said he run the best hotel
in the state of Arkansas
I followed my companion
to his respective place
Saw pity and starvation
was pictured on his face
His bread was old corn dodgers;
His beef I could not chaw
He charged me fifty cents a day
in the state of Arkansas
I got up that next morning
to catch that early train
He says, "Don't be in a hurry, lad;
I have some land to drain
You'll get your fifty cents a day
and all that you can chaw
You'll find yourself a different lad
when you leave old Arkansas"
I worked six weeks for the son of a gun;
Alan Catcher was his name
He stood seven feet two inches,
as tall as any crane
I got so thin on sassafras tea,
I could hide behind a straw
You bet I was a different lad
when I left old Arkansas
Farewell, you old swamp rabbits,
also you dodger pills
Likewise you walking skeletons,
you old sassafras eels
If you ever see my face again,
I'd hand you down my paw
I'd be looking through a telescope
from home to Arkansas