Little Mary Phagan

Album: Complete Recorded Works (1925)
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  • Little Mary Phagan, she went to town one day
    She went to the pencil fact'ry, to get her little pay
    She left her home at eleven, when she kissed her mother good-bye
    Not one time did the po' child think, she was goin' right to die
    Leo Frank met her, with a blues we hardly know
    He smiled and said, "Lil' Mary, now you go home no mo'"
    He sneaked along behind her, 'til she reached the little room
    He laughed and said, "Lil' Mary, you met your fatal doom."

    She fell upon her knees, to Leo Frank she pled
    Because she was virtuous, he hit her across the head
    The tears rolled down her rosy cheeks, the blood flowed down her back
    She remembered tellin' her mother what time she would be back

    He killed lil' Mary Phagan, was on one holiday
    Then called for ol' Jim Conley to take her body away
    He took her to the basement, bound hand and feet
    Down in the basement, lil' Mary lay asleep

    Newt Lee was the watchman, when he went to wind the key
    Down in the basement, lil' Mary he could see
    He called for the officers, their names I do not know
    They came to the pencil factr'y, saying, "Newt Lee, you must go."

    They took him to the jailhouse, locked him in a cell
    The poor ol' innocent nigger, knew nothin' for to tell
    I have a notion in my head, when Frank comes to die
    He took his damnation in the courthouse in the sky

    The astonished asked the question, the angels they do say
    Why he kill lil' Mary, upon one holiday?
    Come all of you good people, wherever you may be,
    Supposin' little Mary belonged to you or me?

    Her mother sets a-weepin'
    She weeps and mourns all day
    She prays to meet her baby
    In a better world some day

    Judge Roan passed the sentence
    You bet he passed it well
    Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey
    Sent Leo Frank to... Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 1

  • 1-0-0-1-0-0-1 from Seattle WaAbout the writer of this song from The Document Records Store "No excuses can be made for his racism, anti-Semitism, or downright nastiness. Over the course of his life he was an active member of the Klu Klux Klan, called for the lynching of Leo Frank through song, railed against Evolution, and enjoyed a (self-designated) reputation of being a moonshiner."
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