Me and my brother was down close to the depot
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When I heard the report of a pistol
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I hollered, «I wonder what was that!»
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He run out and come back and he said
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«That was a report of a pistol»
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And I thought I was gonna faint when he said it
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«Mr. |
Garfield’s been shot down, shot down, shot down
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Mr. Garfield’s been shot down low»
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Lord, I knew the President was supposed to be down the depot that day
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But I just wouldn’t let myself believe that he’d been shot
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Me and my bother run out there and everybody was all confused
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And hollering' and running' round
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And I stepped up to this one lady and I said that
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«Ma'am what was it really that happened Ma’am?», and she said that
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«Mr. |
Garfield’s been shot down, shot down, shot down
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Mr. Garfield’s been shot down low»
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Well, it looked like everybody felt just about as bad as I did
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Everybody started drift off to home
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Me and my brother did too
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Then a few weeks later, I heard that the President was still alive
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So I told my brother, I said, «Hey let’s get on a train
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And go to that Big House up there and see how the President is»
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«Let's go up there to where he’s laid up hurt and sick we’d see him»
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So we went on up there and that big White House
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And there was a soldier boy standin' round upside, outside
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And, I sidled up to him and I said to that soldier boy
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I said «Who was it that did it?
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Who was it that shot the President?»
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And he said that, «It was Charlie Guiteau that shot Mr. Garfield»
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And I said, «Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man, good man
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Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man low
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Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man, good man»
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That soldier boy said that
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Miss Lucretia Garfield was always at his bedside
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In the heat of the day fannin' him when he was hot
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And he said just that mornin' that he had been at the window
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And he’d overheard Miss Lucretia and Mr. Garfield talkin'
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And Mr Garfield said, «Crete, honey», he called her Crete
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He said, «Crete, honey, if somethin' worse would happens to me»
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He said, «You get yourself a good man»
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And she said, «Now James», she called him James
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She said, «James, I won’t hear to that now
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'Cause I love you too much»
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And he said that «You'll make some good man a good wife, good wife
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You’ll make some man a good wife gal
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Don’t pull in single harness all your life, good gal
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Don’t pull in single harness all your life»
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That’s what he said, «Don't pull in single harness all your life»
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Well a little while later, we come back around there
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And things have changed
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The flag was hangin' halfway up the flagpole
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And everybody was cryin' and standin' 'round sad
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And I walked back up to this soldier boy and I said
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«Soldier boy, is he, is Mr Garfield?"and he said, «Yeah, he’s gone»
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Gonna lay him by that cold lonesome branch down low
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Mr. Garfield’s been shot down low
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Oh, Mr. Garfield’s been shot down, shot down, shot down
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Mr. Garfield’s been shot down low
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Have you heard the news?
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Mr. Garfield’s been shot down, shot down, shot down
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Mr. Garfield’s been shot down low, Lord |