My name is Charlie Brannan,
from Charleston I come.
I've traveled this wide world over,
some ups and downs I've had.
I've traveled this wide world over,
some ups and downs I've saw.
But I never really knew what misery was
Till I hit old Arkansas
Got off the train in Little Rock
in the middle of winter
Nobody there to extend to me his paw
Nor bid me welcome to
the state of Arkansas
And it was cold
I dodged behind the depot
to dodge that blizzard wind.
I met a walking skeleton.
He said his name was Thomas Quinn.
Well, his hair hung down in rat tails
on his lean and lantern jaw.
He invited me to his hotel.
He said it was the best in Arkansas.
I followed my conductor
to his respective place
where pity and starvation
were to be seen on every face.
Well his bread it was corn dodger
and his meat I could not chaw,
but he charged me a half a dollar
in the state of Arkansas.
And I went out and got me a job
on a farm, farming.
But I didn't care for
the work of the farmer,
or his wife, and none of his children.
So I went up to him one day
and I said, Mister,
I'm going to quit this job
and you can just pay
me off right now.
He says, okay, son,
if that's the way you feel about it,
and he took me out in the barn
and he handed me a mink skin.
I said, I don't want this thing,
I want my money for the work I've done.
He says, son, you may not know it,
but mink skins
is what we're using
for currency down here now.
So I took it, went into town,
hunted up a place,
put my mink skin up on
the counter
and darned if the bartender
didn't toss me a pint.
Then he picked up my mink skin,
blowed the hair back on it,
put it under the counter,
fetched me out 14 rabbit skins
and three possum hides for change.
I'm going to the Indian Territory
and will live outside the law.
I'll bid farewell to the cane brakes
in the state of Arkansas.
If you ever see me back again,
I'll extend to you my paw.
But it'll be through a telescope
from hell to Arkansas.