I'm just from Nobletown I've travelled this wild world round I've have the ups and downs through life And better days I've saw I never knowd what misery was, till I come to old Arkansas I landed in the Spring, one sultry afternoon Up stepped a walking skeleton, and handed me his paw Invited me to his hotel, the best in Arkansas I followed my conductor unto his dwelling place And poverty did picture in his melacholy face His bread was corn dodger, his beef I couldn't chaw That was the kind of hash I got in the State of Arkansas I started out next morning to catch the early train He said, "You'd better work for me, I have some land to drain I'll give you fifty cents a day, your board and wash and all Indeed you'll be a different man, when you leave old Arkansas" I worked six months for the sonofagun, Jess Harrold was his name He stood six feet two and a half, as tall as any crane His hair hung down in ringlets all round a lantern jaw Indeed he was a photograph for the gents of Arkansas He fed me on corn dodgers as hard as any rock My teeth began to loosen, and my knees began to knock I got so thin on sassafrass tea, I could hide behind a straw Indeed, I was a different man when I left old Arkansas If ever I see this land again I'll hand to you my paw Oh, it will be through a telescope from here to old Arkansas I'm just from Nobletown I've travelled this wild world round I've have the ups and downs through life And better days I've saw I never knowd what misery was, till I come to old Arkansas