But you don't know the grief and woe
Of my poor troubled heart
You've done me mean and hateful
You've done me mean, I say
You've done me mean and hateful
So long that nothing goes
Who combs your pretty brown curls
and lays you down to sleep?
Oh, the boat's gone up the river,
it's gone up there to stay
And if I had a twenty dollar bill,
I buy your shoes, I pat your feet,
I comb your pretty brown curls
and lay you down to sleep.
You are like some turtledove
that flies from tree to tree
A -mournin' for its own true love,
just like I'm mournin' for thee
You've done me mean and hateful
You've done me mean, I say
You've done me mean and hateful
That nothing goes hard with me