Don't Go Out Tonight- Minnie Allen c. 1890s
[This song has been collected by Randolph 339, "Don't Go Out Tonight, My Darling" and Brown (III, 26), "Don't Go Out Tonight, My Darling" (3 texts) and is Roud #3521. It was first recorded by G. B. Grayson & Henry Whitter, "Don't Go Out Tonight, My Darling" (Victor 21139, 1927) and later by Uncle Henry's Original Kentucky Mountaineers, "Don't Go Out Tonight My Darling" (Capitol 48036, 1949)
R. Matteson 2014]
DON'T GO OUT TONIGHT
1. Don't go out tonight my darling,
Do not leave here alone;
Don't go out tonight my darling,
For I'm lonely when you're gone.
2. Though the wine cup be so tempting
And your friends so full of glee,
I shall do my best to cheer you,
Darling, won't you stay with me.
3. Don't go out tonight, my darling,
For my heart is filled with fear,
Stay at home tonight, my darling,
Let me feel your presence near.
4. Oh my God, he's gone and left me,
With a curse upon his lips;
No one knows what I have suffered
From the cursed cup he sips.
5. Hear the tread of heavy footsteps,
Hear the rap upon the door,
They have brought me home my husband;
There he lies upon the floor.
6. No caress of mine can wake him,
All he craves is rum, more rum,
And the fondest hopes I cherished
All have faded one by one.
Remembered by Mrs. McDowell from the singing of Mrs. Minnie Allen in the eighteen nineties.