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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).
