Leadbelly Frankie & Albert
Frankie was a good woman
As everybody knows
She did all the work around the house
And pressed her Albert's clothes
He was her man, but he done her wrong
Albert was a yeller man
Coal-black curly hair
Everybody up in St. Louis
Thought he was a millionaire--
He was my son, and the only one
Miss Frankie went to the barroom
Called for a bottle of beer
Says to the bartender:
"Has Mister Albert been here?
He is my man, and he's doin' me wrong."
Frankie and Albert were lovers
Oh, my God how they did love!
Just like sisters and brothers
The whore and her turtle dove
For he was her man, but she shot him down
The bartender says to Miss Frankie:
"I cannot tell a lie;
Mister Albert was here about a minute ago
With a gal name Alkali
He is your man, but he's doin' you wrong."
Little Frankie went down the Broadway
With her razor in her hand
Says "Stand aside, you chippie
I'm lookin' for my man
He's a gamblin' man, won't treat me right."
Miss Frankie went up the stairway
She didn't go for fun;
Underneath the ruffles of her petticoat
She had a young Gatlin' gun
He was her man an' he was doin' her wrong
Miss Frankie opened the winder
The gun she fired twice;
The second shot she fired
She took Mister Albert's life--
He was her man, but he was doin' her wrong
Well, when Frankie shot Albert
First, he fell to his knees
Then he looked up in her face
Says, "Frankie, please don't shoot me no mo'
Please, babe, don't shoot me no mo'."
She shot three bullets in him
He staggered to the door
He gasped, "Oh, Frankie, you can't play 'round
'Round this hop joint any more
I was your man, but I done you wrong
"Turn me over, Frankie
Turn me over slow
Turn me over easy on my left side
So my heart won't overflow
And kill me dead, and kill me dead."
Took po' Albert to the graveyard
Stuck him in the ground
Frankie, she was singin'
"I shot the sucker down--
He was my man, but he done me wrong."
The people says to Frankie
"Little Frankie, why don't you run?
Yonder comes the Chief Police
With a smokeless 44 gun
You killed your man, wouldn't treat you right."
"Well," says Miss Frankie
I don't care if I die
Take and hang me to a telegraph pole
Hang me good and high--
He was my man but he done me wrong."
Little Frankie went down Broadway
As far as she could see
And all she could hear was a two-string bow
Playing, "Nearer, My God To Thee"--
All over the town, little Albert's dead
Frankie went to Albert's mother
Fell across her knees
Said: "I'm sorry I killed your son
Won't you excuse me please?
He was my man, but he done me wrong."
"I will forgive you, Frankie
I will forgive you not
You sho' shot Albert
He's the only son I got
He was my son, and the only one."
Frankie says to the sheriff
"Well, what do you think it'll be?"
The sheriff said: "It looks like a case
Of murder in the first degree;
He was your man, but you shot him down."
It was not murder in the first degree
It was not murder in the third
A woman simply dropped her man
Like a hunter drops a bird
He was her man, but she shot him down
Frankie said to the sheriff
"Oh, what do you think they'll do?"
"Strap you in the 'lectric chair
'N' send thirty thousand volts through you
Albert was your man, but you shot him down."
Passin' through the jail house
Went by Frankie's cell
Asked her how she was feelin'
She said, "Go to Hell."
He was her man, but she shot him down
Once more I saw Frankie
She was sittin' in her chair
Waitin' for to go an' meet her God
With the sweat drippin' out her hair
Albert was her man, but she shot him down
Took Frankie to the graveyard
And stuck her in the ground
Now all that's left of Frankie
Is a wooden cross and mound
He was her man- both dead and gone
Two little pieces of crape
Hangin' on the door
Show that lovin' Albert
Ain't lovin' Albert no more
Frankie shot her man, who was doin' her wrong