(Traditional)

[L.D.] We'll take it a bit slower

This is, this is the, huh, this is the first song I ever learned, actually



Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts

Lordy, how they could love

Swore to be true to each other

Yeah, true to the skies above

He was her man, wouldn't do her no wrong



And Frankie and Johnny went walkin'

And Johnny had on a new suit

Yeah, Frankie spent one-hundred dollar notes

Just to make her man look cute

He was her man, he wouldn't do her no wrong



Frankie went over to the barroom

Stopped for a bottle of beer

Said to the old bartender man

Has my lover Johnny man been here?

He was my man, Lord, but he'd been doin' me wrong, so wrong.



Yeah Frankie looked over the transom door

And then to her great surprise

There sat her lover man Johnny

Makin' love to Nellie Bly

He was her man, but he was doin' her wrong



Well Frankie lifted up her kimono dress

And she drew (ladaladalala) out a little .44

She shot once, twice, three times (three times) she shot him

And through that hardwood (door) floor

Yeah she shot her man (yeah he was her man)

Well but he been doin' her wrong yeah



He said, roll me over so careful ah

Roll me over so slow,

Oh roll me on to my left hand side,

Because your bullet hurt me so,

I was your man, but I been doin' you wrong.



Play it Chris!



(Instrumental)



Well they sent for Frankie's mother

Come down to Huddy's saloon

To see what's the matter with her boy

She come down, Frankie looked up at her

Here what she said:



She said, Oh Mrs. Johnson, oh forgive me please

Well I killed your lovin' son, Johnny

But I'm down on my bended knee

I shot your man, 'cause he was doin' me wrong. ah



She said, I'll forgive you Frankie,

She said, I'll forgive you not, not

For killin' my lovin' son Johnny,

He's the only support that I've got,

'Cause you shot my man and he was doin' you wrong.



Well the last time I seen Frankie

She was a-sittin' in a dungeon cell

She would be there moanin', herself

With no one there to care

She shot her man, a he'd been doin' her wrong, so wrong



Well bring out the overtime hearse all day long

You gotta bring out the pony and truck hey

They're gonna take Johnny, Johnny to the cemetary (graveyard)

And they ain't never coming back

Oh he was her man, oh but he been doin' her wrong, so wrong



Well the story ain't got no moral, Lordy

But the story ain't got no end

Well the story only goes to show

That there ain't no damn good in men

He was her man, but he was doin' her wrong

Yeah, ba-da-ba-ba-da-ba-ba-da-ba-ba-ba-ba



(Transcribed by ear; corrections requested and welcomed!)