i've been a moonshiner for seventeen long years i've spent all my money on whiskey & beer i go to some hollow, & sit at my still & if the whiskey don't kill me, then i don't know what will
i go to some bar room & drink with my friends where the women can't follow & 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 am hungry let me drink when i am dry a dollar when i am hard up religion when i die the whole world's a bottle & life's but a dram when the bottle gets empty it sure ain't worth a damn.