SOLO
I've got the Red River Blues, and I'll sing 'em everywhere I go
I've got the Red River Blues and I sing 'em everywhere I go
Tell me, tell me, what in the world you got on your mind
Whyn't you tell me, kind Becky, what you got on your mind (Spoken: Lord, play it Mr. Frank Evans)
I'd rather be, Mississippi River, just floating like a log
Than the girl I love to treat me like I'm a dog (Spoken: Play it, boogieman, for me one time)
I'm gwine, sayin' I'm gwine, and your cryin' won't make me stay
And the more you cry, baby, the further you gwonna drive me away (Spoken: Aw, shucks!)
Tell me her color, and I'll tell you what road she's on
Whyn't you tell me her color and I'll tell you what road she's on (Spoken: Oooo, I gave that pill)
Just how long, how long, I've got to wait?
How long, sweet mama, do you think I've got to wait?
I don't love nobody, Mama, in this right-down world but you
And it seem like to me, baby, you could come to love me, too (Spoken: Lord, I got the blues!)
Got blues, I got the blues, and I'll sing 'em everywhere I go
I got the Red River Blues and I'll sing 'em everywhere I go (Spoken: You ain't thought about these old penitentiary blues yet.)
Come here, sweet mama, whyn't you set down on my knee?
And I just wants to tell you, baby, how you mistreated me (Spoken: Aw, tell 'em about it!)
Now you treat me like a man you ain't never seen
Aw, you treat me like, baby, a man you ain't never seen (Spoken: Whoo, play it!)
Tell me, tell me, baby, what you got on your mind
Whyn't you tell me, baby, what you got on your mind (Spoken: We gonna juke it there directly!)
I"m goin' to Florida (guitar finishes verse)
SOLO
If I leave here runnin', sweet mama, don't you follow me
If I leave here runnin', baby, don't you follow me (Spoken: You can leave runnin', but I'm comin', walkin')
Just pack up your suitcase and walk down to Tennessee
Pack up your suitcase, mama, says, walk down to Tennessee
NOTE:
Frank Evans was an African-American blues singer and guitarist, who was recorded by John A. Lomax for the Library of Congress while an inmate at the State Penitentiary Parchman, Mississippi, in April 1936.