American Ballads and Folk Songs: page - 0203

Complete Text, Lyrics & Sheet Music

	American Ballads and Folk Songs FRANKIE AND ALBERT*
	Frankie wuz a good woman, Everybody knows, She spent one hundred dollars For to buy her man some clothes, Oh, he wuz her man, But he done her wrong. Frankie went down to de corner, Went there wid a can, Ast de lovin' bartender: "Has you seen my lovin' man? He's my man, But he's a-doin' me wrong." Frankie went down to de corner, Didn't go dere for fun, *In 1909 the A version came from Texas sources. The B version is a composite of stanzas obtained from Connecticut, North Carolina, Mississippi, Illinois, Tennessee, and Texas. A study of the three hundred variants in the collection of Robert A. Gordon will yet, perhaps, call for a doctor's thesis. No one has ever heard precisely the same song suns by two individuals, unless they happened to be roommates. Frankie, the heroine of this tragedy, yet lives, according to report, somewhat aloof to the curious only, in Seattle, Washington. [ 103 ]