LAST FAIR DEAL GONE DOWN

It's the last fair deal goin' down
        last fair deaì goin' down
lt's the last fair deal goin' down, good Lord
        on that Gulfport lsland Road
Eh, Ida Belle, don't cry this time
        Ida Belle, don't cry this time
If you cry about a nickel
        you'll die 'bout a dime
    She wouldn't cry but the money won't mine
I love the way you do
        I love the way you do
I love the way you do, good Lord
        On this Gulfport lsland Road
My captain's so mean on me
        my captain's so mean on me
My captain's so mean on m'-mmm, good Lord
        On this Gulfport Island Road
Take camp tain he and see
        camp ain't he and see
At scal ain't be at seen, good Lord
        On that Gulfport Island Road
Ah, this last fair deal goin' down
        it's the last fair deal goin' down
This' the last fair deal goin' down, good Lord
        On this Gulfport Island Road
I'm workin' my way back home
        I'm workin' my way back home
I'm workin' my way hack home, good Lord
        On this Gulfport Island Road
And that thing don't keep a-ringin' so soon
        that thing don't keep a-ringin' so soon
And that thing don't keep a-ringin' so soon, good Lord
        On that Gulfed and Port Island Road

Notes: 1. The Gulf &Ship Island Railroad linked the docks at Ship Island,
                Miss., just off the mainland at Gulfport, with the main line at
                Jackson. It ran through Hattiesburg and was completed July 4.
                1900, its vice-president being the coIorful Calonel William C.
                Falkner, grandfather of the famous American novelist, Williaam
                Faulkner. It was purchased by the Illinois Central in JuIy 1925
                for five million dolIars and over the next three yeors over one
                and a half times that amount was spent on improvements!
            2. The underIined passages above are phonetic approximations of
                what Johnson sings, which, in truth, may be nonsensical.
            3. The "won't" in the first verse is a dialectic substitute for
                "weren't".
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