Oh John, john, john
You better not fool around
Go get a pick and a shovel
Gonna dig a hole in the ground
Set me down in my easy chair
To rest my weary bones
My body's full of aches and pain
My better days are gone
Carry me down in the Cedar Gove
Where the honey suckle blooms
Lay me down in the yellar clay
Beside my lover's romb
* Refrain
Fifty-one years of married life
Twenty-one single at home
Lord ninety-nine years upon this earth
Twenty-seven of them all alone
John, you can have my one-eyed mule
He'll work and till the ground
You'll need him to haul me to my grave
Before the sun goes down
* Refrain