206
Boys, Keep Away from the Girls
Conceived probably as a retort to 'The Boys Won't Do to Trust,'
but in a broader strain of humor. Henry reports it from Tennessee
(SSSA 34) and Randolph from Missouri (OFS iii io6).
'Boys, Keep Away from the Girls.' Reported by Julian P. Boyd in
1927, presumably from some of his students in the school at Alliance,
Pamlico county.
I Love is such a very funny thing,
And it catches the young and old
Just like a plate of boarding-house hash,
And many a man it has sold.
Makes you feel like a fresh-water eel
And causes your head to swell.
Lose your mind — for love is blind —
And empties your pocketbook as well.
Chorus:
Boys, keep away from the girls, I say,
And give them lots of room.
You'll find when you're wed they'll bang you till you're
dead
With the bald-headed end of the broom.
2 Cross-eyed baby on each knee
And a wife with a plaster on her nose.
You'll find true love don't run so smooth
When you have to wear second-handed clothes.
Rent is high and the kids all cry
'Cause they ain't got no grub to chaw.
Holler for your son to load up the gun
While you vaccinate your mother-in-law.