A Drunkard's Child
by Rev. Andrew Jenkins
and Jimmie Rodgers
"This song was
written in November 1929,after spending the afternoon on
Thanksgiving Day with Jimmie Rodgers, the famous
yodeler. He and Daddy Jenkins were so jolly, and we all
had such a lovely time. They sang together and talked
much. Daddy promised Jimmie he would write song
just for him to record. This is the song. This was the
first yodel music I ever tried to make, but the sheet
music was real pretty. We sent it to him and he
immediately recorded it, and as were all his records,
liked at once.
—Irene Spain Futrell
A Drunkard's Child
My father is a
drunkard, my mother she is dead
And I Am Just An Orphan child, no place to lay my head
All through this world I wander, they drive me from
their door
Someday I'll find a welcome on heaven's golden shore.
Now if to me you'll
listen, I'll tell a story sad
How drinking rum and the gambling hell have stole away
my dad
My mother is in heaven where God and the angels smile
And now I know she's watching her lonely orphan child.
We all were once so
happy and had a happy home
Till daddy went to drinking rum and then he gambled some
He left my dying mother she died of a broken heart
And as I tell my story, I can see your teardrops start.
Don't weep for me
and mother, although I know 'tis sad
But try to get someone to cheer and save my poor lonely
dad
"I'm awful cold and hungry," she closed her eyes and
sighed
Then those who knew her story knew the orphan child had
died.
