I been a moonshiner for seventeen long years,
I've spent all my money on whiskey and beer.
I'll go to some hollow and sit at my still
And, if whiskey don't kill me, then, I don't know what will.
I'll go to some bar-room and drink with my friends,
Where the women can't follow and see what I spend.
God bless them pretty women, I wish they was mine,
Their breath is as sweet as the dew on the vine.
Let me eat when I'm hungry, let me drink when I'm dry,
A dollar when I'm hard up, religion when I die.
The whole world's a bottle and life's but a dram:
When the bottle gets empty, it sure ain't worth a damn.