Give me twelve long months.
Den captain come take me to de road.
I ask the captain what I gonna do.
Captain told me to pick and shovel too.
I rather be dead, Lawd, and in my grave.
Captain told me,
Say, “Lawd, you ain’t gonna work,
Lawd, you ain’t gonna work nowhere else
But on this chain gang.”
Say, “If I let you go home this time,