Hang down your head Tom Dooley
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head Mrs. Melton
Your boy is bound to die
Tom and Mrs. Melton were lovers
Tom loved her cousins too
Pauline and Laura Foster
What's a poor boy to do?
(Chorus)
Tommy now won't you marry me
Daddy thinks i've been defiled
Tommy won't you run and marry me
Tom Dooley I carry your child
(chorus) Hang down your head Tom Dooley
Now it's a Hollywood lie
It was early in the morning
Laura stole her Daddy's horse
She was off to elope with Tom Dooley
Instead she met a deadly force
(Chorus)
As Tom stood on the gallows
Prepared to meet his death
He held a hand out in front of him
I never harmed a hair on her head
(chorus)