CHARLES GUITEAU (Version #2) (trad.) (1800s)
(Version #1) (Version #3)


President James A. Garfield

Any copyrighted material on these pages is used in "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s)

Lyrics as recorded by Kelly Harrell, vocal, & The Virginia String Band (Posey Rorer, fiddle; R. D. Hundley, banjo; Alfred Steagal, guitar), RCA Victor Studios, Camden, NJ, Mar 23, 1927 (master #38237-2, released as RCA Victor Vi 20797);
transcribed by Robert Nobley & Willard Johnson, reprinted in liner notes, "The Complete Kelly Harrell," (Folk Variety/Bear Family Records 15508-15510; 1970s).

Come all you tender Christians, wherever you may be,
And likewise pay attention from these few lines from me.
I was down at the depot to make my getaway,
And Providence being against me, it proved to be too late.

I tried to play off insane, but found it would not do,
The people all against me, it proved to make no show.
Judge Cox, he passed the sentence, the clerk he wrote it down,
On the thirtieth day of June to die I was condemned.

CHORUS:
My name is Charles Guiteau, my name I'll never deny.
To leave my aged parents to sorrow and to die.
But little did I think, while in my youthful bloom,
I'd be carried to the scaffold to meet my fatal doom.

My sister came in prison to bid her last farewell.
She threw her arms around me, she wept most bitterly.
She said, "My loving brother, today you must die
For the murder of James A. Garfield, upon the scaffold high."

And now I mount the scaffold to bid you all adieu.
The hangman now is waiting, it's a quarter after two.
The black cap is o'er my face, no longer can I see,
But when I'm dead and buried, dear Lord, remember me.

TO TOP OF PAGE
TO OUTLAWS PAGE
TO 1800s PAGE
TO AMERICAN HISTORY IN SONG PAGE
TO STARTING PAGE

You can email me at
[email protected]