Lyrics Frankie and Johnnie - Original - Ethel Waters

Frankie and Johnnie - Original

Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts
Boy, how they could love!
Swore to be true to each other
True as the stars above!
'Cause he was her man
But he done her wrong!
One night Frankie happened to pass by the hotel;
Just casually glanced into a window so high
And who did she see but her lovin' man
Lovin' up old Nellie Bligh!
She caught her man
Doin' her wrong!
Well, she went round the corner to her favourite pawn shop;
This time she didn’t go there for fun!
'Cause when she left, underneath her long red kimono
She was totin' a forty-four gun!
She was gunnin' for her man
Who was doin' her wrong!
Then back Frankie dashed to that hotel
Started yankin' the bell!
She said, «Stand back, you madam and floozies
Or I’ll blow each and every one of you straight to hell!
I want my man
Who’s done me wrong!»
Johnnie, in panic, mounted the staircase
Screamin', «Oh Frankie, don’t shoot!»
Three times she pulled a trigger on a forty-four gun
The gun went, «Root-toot-toot!»
She nailed her man
Who’d done her wrong!
So they put her away in a dungeon
Way up in a dark dingy cell
In the south east corner of a jail
Where the wind seemed to blow straight from hell!
For killin' her man
Who done her wrong!
But the day Frankie mounted the scaffold
She was just as calm as any gal could be!
And raising her eyes to heaven she cried
«Lord, I’m comin' to thee!
I’m sorry I killed my man
Who done me wrong!»
Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts
Boy, how they could love!
Swore to be true to each other