Make Me Down A Pallet On Your Floor

—Mississippi John Hurt

Chorus:
Make me down a pallet on your floor ( x2 )
Honey, make it down, make it soft and low,
Then maybe my good gal won't know

I'm goin' up the country through the sleet and snow ( x3 )
Ain't no tellin' just how fur I'll go.

I get my breakfast here and my dinner in Tennessee ( x3 )
I told you I's a comin' so you better look for me

Honey I can't lay down on your bed
No I can't lay down 'cross your bed
No you know I can't lay down cross your pretty bed
'Cause my good woman she might kill me dead

And don't let my good gal catch you here ( x2 )
If you do she might shoot you, cut and stab you, too,
Ain't no tellin' what all she might do.

Honey make me down a pallet on your floor (X2)
Honey make it down, make it soft and low
Then maybe my good gal she won't know

The way I been sleepin', my back and shoulders' tired ( x3 )
Goin' turn over and try it on the side.

Additional verses:

I'm goin' up the country through the sleet and snow ( x3 )
Ain't no tellin' just how far I'll go

I'm tired and I can't work no more (X2)
Well I'm tired, lonesome, weary and I can't work no more,
Pretty baby now, make me a pallet on your floor

Come all you good time friends of mine, (X2)
Come all you good time friends of mine.
You're all around me now, well, now I'm doing fine,
But where were you when I only had a dime.

Where are all them good—time friends of mine? (X2)
When I had a dollar bill they treated me jus' fine;
Where are they now I don't have a dime?

I'm goin' where the water tastes like wine—— (X2)
This New York water tastes like turpentine——
I'm goin' where the water taste like wine.

I'm goin' where them chilly winds don't blow; (X2)
When I get to Mussel Shoals, without no place to go,
Make me a pallet on your floor.

Verse:

IV IV I I
IV IV I V
I III IV IV
I V I I