[Verse 1]
Father, did you bring me the silver
Father, did you bring me the gold?
What did you bring me, dear father
Keep me from the gallows pole?

[Chorus 1]
Yeah, what did you?
Yeah, what did you?
What did you bring me, keep me from the gallows pole?

[Spoken]
In olden times years ago, when you put a man in prison behind the bars in a jailhouse
If you had fifteen or twenty-five or thirty dollars
You could save him from the gallows pole 'cause they gonna hang him if you don't bring up a little money
Everybody would come to the jailhouse and boy would ran upside the jail; he was married, too
As for who brang him something, lot of comfort, here comes his mother

[Verse 2]
Mother, did you bring me the silver
Mother, did you bring me the gold?
What did you bring me, dear mother
Keep me from the gallows pole?

[Chorus 1]
Yeah, what did you?
Yeah, what did you?
What did you bring me, keep me from the gallows pole?
[Verse 3]
Son, I brought you some silver
Son, I brought you some gold
Son, I brought you a little of everything
Keep you from the gallows pole

[Chorus 2]
Yeah, I brought it
Yeah, I brought it
I brought you, keep you from the gallows pole

[Spoken]
Here come his wife
His wife brought him all kind of clock parts and trace change
Everything in the world she could to get him out of the jailhouse

[Verse 3]
Wife, did you bring me the silver
Wife, did you bring me the gold?
What did you bring me, dear wifey
Save me from the gallows pole?

[Chorus 1]
Yeah, what did you?
Yeah, what did you?
What did you bring me, keep me from the gallows pole?
[Verse 4]
Friends, did you bring me the silver
Friends, did you bring me the gold?
What did you bring me, my dear friends
Keep me from the gallows pole?

[Chorus]
Yeah, what did you?
Yeah, what did you?
What did you bring me, keep me from the gallows pole?