The Ballad Of John Mccrae

On the banks of the Missouri

Annie Washed up in the clay

And they took her to her father

Told him it was John McCrae

Now I'm running through the badlands

Covering my tracks

Northward toward Dakota

With the devil on my back

Oh, the river flows

To our immortal home

Oh Annie, oh my soul

Well I took her down by the stream side

For to make that girl my bride

But in the fold of her pretty white dress

Lay her father's bowie knife

Well she pulled that steel blade on me

Told me she would take my life

So I pushed her into the river

She went under with tide

Oh, the river flows

To our immortal home

Oh Annie, oh my soul

Well the hound dogs they overtook me

40 miles past Hqarding town

And I told that young Douglas sherriff

Boy, you'd better shoot me now

He said poor Johnny, by my orders

Your life I cannot take

But I'll be smiling at your hanging

When they lay you in the grave

Oh, the river flows

To our immortal home

Oh Annie, oh my soul

I am standing at the gallows

And the scaffold it is high

And the hangman asked my last words

Before I'm condemned to die

So I begged God, don't forgive me

For the trouble I have sown

For I'll soon see my pretty Annie

In the hell fire down below

Oh, the river flows

To our immortal home

Oh Annie, oh my soul