Burl Ives – Sweet Betsy from Pike



Oh, Don't you remember Sweet Betsy from Pike,

She crossed the big mountains with her lover Ike,

With two yoke of oxen and one yaller dog

And an old Shanghai rooster one spotted hog.



Hoodle dang dang fol-de-die-do hoodle dang fol-de-day



They got to the desert where Betsy give out,

Down on the sand she lay rolling about,

Ike he gazed at her with sobs and white sighs, 

“Won't you get up, Sweet Betsy? You'll get sand in your eyes”



Hoodle dang dang fol-de-die-do hoodle dang fol-de-day  



Well, the oxen run off and the shanghai it died,

The last piece of bacon that morning was fried, 

Ike got discouraged an Betsy got mad, 

And the dog wagged his tail and looked wonderfully sad.



Hoodle dang dang fol-de-die-do hoodle dang fol-de-day



Ike and Sweet Betsy attended a dance,

Ike wore a pair of his Pike country pants, 

Betsy was dressed up in ribbons and rings.  

Quoth Ike: “You're an angel, but where are your wings?”

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A miner come up, says, “will you dance with me?”

“I will you old hoss, if you don't make too free; tell you the reason,

if you want to know why, doggone you, I'm chock full of strong alkali." 



Hoodle dang dang fol-de-die-do hoodle dang fol-de-day