Taneytown

I went down to Taneytown

I went down to Taneytown

To see what I could see

My mama told me, "Never go"

I'm damn near twenty-two years old

Sometimes I fear this holler swallow me

She ran off to Gettysburg

Went off with that new beau of hers

I snuck off after dark

It's a long way down the county road

Stars were bright, and the moon was low

Down to where the black top highway starts

I went down to Taneytown

I went down to Taneytown

Yeah, I went down to see what I could see

Now everybody stared at me

You'd think that they ain't never seen

A colored  boy before

Well, they chunked at me and called me names

They'd have whooped me sure but the sheriff came

I slipped off through the dry goods store

And I ran down Division Street

Some of them boys followed me

Down to the railroad track

Well, there's four of them and I can't fight

But I had my old randall knife

I cut that boy and I never did look back

I went down to Taneytown

I went down to Taneytown

I went down to see what I could see

Across the fields and woods I run

Like a bullet from a rabid gun

Back home to my bed

And ma come in from Gettysburg

Carrying that new beau of hers

"Boy, you look like hell," she said

A month went by without a word

Somebody down the holler heard

About that boy they hung

He begged those men to spare his life

But I dropped my bloody randall knife

He picked it up so they thought he was the one

Yeah, I went down to Taneytown

I went down to Taneytown

I ain't going back here anymore