Export town- Mrs. Matilda Amos (AR) 1941 Garrison
[From Mid-America Folklore - Volume 30, page 81, 2002.
R. Matteson 2016]
Export town- sung by Mrs. Matilda Amos of Marshall AR in April 1941, collected Garrison.
I used to live in Export town,
I used to live and dwell;
I used to live in Export Town
And owned a flour mill.
I fell in love with an Export girl
With a round and rolling eye;
I asked her if she would marry me,
And me she didn't deny.
I called in at her sister's house
At eight o'clock one night.
(Two lines had been forgotten here.)
I told her that we'd take a walk
And view the meadow so gay;
I told her that we'd take a walk
And name the wedding day.
We walked along, we talked along,
Till we came on level ground.
I picked me up a hedge-wood stick
And knocked the poor girl down.
She fell upon her bended knees;
"O Lord, have mercy!" she cried.
"O Willie, dear, don't murder me here;
I'm not prepared to die."
I minded not a word she said,
But beat her more and more;
I beat her till the ground all round
Was in a bloody gore.
I took her by the yellow hair
And swung her round and round;
I carried her to the deep water side
And threw her in to drown.
I called in at my mother's house
At twelve o'clock that night.
My mother, being old and feeble,
Woke up in a fright
O Willie, dear what have you done,
That's bloodied your hands and clothes?
The reply was, that I gave her,
"I'm bleeding at the nose."
I asked her for a candlestick
To light my way to bed;
I asked her for a handkerchief
To bind my aching head.
I rolled and I tumbled;
No comfort could I see.
The flames of hell shone all around,
Were shining over me.
In about six weeks or later
This poor girl's body was found,
A floating down the deep water side,
Way down by Export Town.
Her sister swore my life away,
She swore without a doubt;
She swore I was the very man
That called her sister out.
O Lord, they're going to hang me here,
This death I dread to die.
O Lord, they're going to hang me high
Between the earth and sky.