Mister Garfield been shot down
Shot down
Shot down
Mister Garfield been shot down low
Me and my brother
Was down close to the depot
When I heard the report of a pistol
My brother run out
And come back in all excited
And I said, "What was it?"
And he said, "It was the report of a pistol"
And then he said
Mister Garfield been shot down
Shot down
Shot down
Mister Garfield been shot down low
Lord, I knew the President
Was supposed to be
At the depot that day
And we just would't believe
That he's shot
But we'd run over there
And there was so many folks around
That we couldn't see him
But some lady was standing there crying
And I said
"M'am, what was it
That happened, m'am"
And she said
Mister Garfield been shot down
Shot down
Shot down
Mister Garfield been shot down low
Well, everybody drifted off
Toward home finally
And they looked like
They felt about as bad as I did
But in a few weeks I heard
That the President was still alive
And I told my brother, I said
"Let's get on that train
And go to where he's laid up hurt"
Well, when we got to his big house up there
I asked the fellow
I said, "Who was it
That did it
Who was it that shot the President"
And he said it was Charlie Guiteau
That shoot Mister Garfield
And I said
Charlie Guiteau done shot down
A good man
Good man
Charlie Guiteau done shot down
A good man low
I heard some fellow there
That had been in the house
To see the President
And I sidled up him to listen
To what he was telling and he said
Mistress Lucretia Garfield
Was always at his side
In the heat of the day fanning him
When he was hot
He said that just that day
The President said to mistress Lucretia
He said, "Crete, honey"
He called her Crete
Said, "If something worse happens to me
After awhile
You get yourself a good man
And mistress Lucretia said, "James"
She called him James
She said, "I won't hear to that now"
She said, "I love you too much"
But he said
"You'll make some good man
A good wife
Good wife
You'll make some man
A good, good wife
Don't pull in single harness
All your life, good gal
Don't pull in single harness
All your life
That's what he said
"Don't pull in single harness
All your life"
Well, a few days later
I come back to where the President was resting
And it seems everybody was crying
The flag was hanging halfway up to the flagpole
In front of the house
Everybody looked so sad
And I asked a soldier boy there
And I said, "Is
Is, is mister Garfield?"
And he said, "Yes, he's gone"
Gonna lay him
In that cold lonesome ground
Down low
Gonna lay him
In that cold lonesome ground
Well, they laid the President
By that long cold branch
Mister Garfield's been laid down low
Mister Garfield has been shot down
Shot down
Shot down
Mister Garfield's been shot
Mister Garfield has been shot down
Shot down
Shot down