207. The Boys Won't Do to Trust


207

The Boys Won't Do to Trust

The Archive of American Folk Song has a record of this from
Kentucky; Davis reports it from Virginia (FSV 88) and Randolph
from Missouri (OFS iii 216-18) ; further than that it has not been
traced. Cf. SharpK 11 80. In subject matter it belongs with the
Satirical Songs, volume III, section ix.

'The Boys Won't Do to Trust.' From the manuscript songbook of
Miss Edith Walker of Boone, Watauga county; copied out in 193b.
(There is another copy of this contributed by Professor Abrams, but it
does not differ significantly from Miss Walker's.)

1 I own the boys are handsome
And sweet as sweet can be.

I own I love one dearly.
And aren't you just Hke mer

Chorus:

No, they won't do to trust,
No, they won't do to trust.
I tell you, girls, I know them
And the boys won't do to trust.

2 They'll do to buy cheap whiskey
And then get on a drunk.

I'll tell you, girls, I know them
And the boys won't do to trust.

3 And you may start and wonder,
And ask me in surprise

Why a girl so young as I am
Should chance to be so wise.

4 I hate, I hate to tell you,
But then suppose I must.

I've learned from sad experience
That the boys won't do to trust.