Little birdie, little birdie
   Come and sing me you song
   Got a short time to stay here
   And a long time to be gone

I'm a long way from old Dixie
And my old Kentucky home
Now my parents are both dead and gone
Have no place to call my home

Now I'd rather be a sailor
Way out upon the sea
Then to be at home a marred man
With a baby on my knee

For the married man he sees trouble
And the single boy sees none
I expect to live single
Til my days on earth are done

Now I'd rather be in some dark hollow
Where the sun don't ever shine
Then to see you love another
When you promised to be mine