Standard (EADGBE)
I went down to Taneytown, I went down to Taneytown
To see what I could see
My mama told me never go, I?m damned near twenty-two years old
Some times I feel this hollow swallowing me.
Ma went off to Gettysburg, her and that new beau of hers, I snuck off after dark.
It?s a long way down the Canny Road, the stars were bright & the moon was low,
Down where the blacktop highway starts.
Chorus
I went down to Taneytown, I went down to Taneytown,
I went down to see what I could see.
Now everybody stared at me, you?d think that they ain?t never seen,
A colored boy before.
Well, they jumped at me and they called me names,
they?d a whupped me sure, but the sheriff came,
I slipped off and ran through the drygoods store.
I ran down Division Street, but some of them boys followed me,
Down to the railroad track.
There was four of them & I came five, but I got my old Randall knife,
I cut that boy & I never did look back.
Chorus
Across the fields & woods I run, like a bullet from a rabbit gun,
Back home to my bed.
Ma came back from Gettysburg, her and that new beau of hers,
Boy you look like hell, was all she said.
A month went by without a word, till someone down in the hollow heard,
About that boy they hung.
He begged those men to spare his life, but I dropped my bloody Randall knife,
He picked it up, so they thought he was the one.
Repeat chorus twice, second time insert last line, "I ain?t going back there anymore."