My daddy was a handsome gambler He had a chain five miles long On every link a heart did dangle Of another maid he'd loved and wronged
He'd tell to you some loving story He'd make you think he believed them true But love grows cold as love grows older And fades away like morning dew
I'd rather be in some dark hollow where the sun refused to shine Than to live here in Missouri With your memory always haunting my mind
Come all ye fair and tender ladies Take warning how you court your men They're like a star on a summer's morning First they appear then they're gone again
