I'm going to join the army
I'm going to volunteer
I'm going to be a soldier
Before another year

I'm going to Pensacola
To tarry awhile
Far from you, my darling
More than a hundred miles

O, hear the cannon roaring
See the bullets fly
Hear the drum a-beating
To drown the soldier's cry

O, stay at home, dear Johnny
Make me your wife
If you go to Pensacola
They'll surely take your life

They'll put you in the center
There you'll be slain
It'll burst my heart asunder
To never see you again

Let me go with you, Johnny
I'll travel at your side
When the war is over
Then I will be your bride
No stay at home, dear Nancy
Lead a single life
If I do come back again
I'll make you my wife

They marched him through the country
Marched him into town
He marched to Pensacola
And there they shot him down

I'm weary of the fighting
Weary of the war
Farewell, my Johnny
I'll never see you no more