To my old home I drew near
Just a village down in sunny Tennessee
I'd been speeding on a train
That would take me home again
To the girl I left in sunny Tennessee
As that train drew up at last
Old familiar scenes of past,
I kissed my mother at the station door
With kind friends gathered round,
smiles on every face I found
Well, I missed the one that
You can hear the children singing
as she bid farewell to me
Far across those fields of cotton,
my old homestead I could see
As the moon goes in its glory,
and I told my saddest story
To the girl I left in sunny
I just whispered, mother dear
Where is Mary, she's not here
She just pointed to the spot
In a little churchyard lot
Where Mary sleeps in sunny Tennessee
You could hear the children singing
as they bid farewell to me
Far across those fields of cotton,
my old homestead I could see
As the moon rose in its glory,
and I told my saddest story,
of the girl I left in sunny Tennessee.
