Well, I can hear mamma singin' the hangin' tree
Sound like someone singin' harmony
And me and my brother we don't make a peep
We go down slow to the hangin' tree
Hangin' tree's down by the river's edge
We come up stream and peek over the ledge
And mamma's got a rope and a kitchen knife
And the harmony singer is the preacher's wife
Mamma put a bible in her right hand
And asked her if she been seein' her man
Well, me and my brother don't hear no more
Cause right then the rain began to pour
It was an hour past dark when she came back home
And we never saw papa round here no more
Mamma took to sittin' by the hangin' tree
But there ain't no body singin' harmony
The preacher's wife she don't leave his side
And we ain't got papa to tan no hide
My older brother he took his life
And I took to peepin' on the preacher's wife
I left my mamma when I was sixteen
Strung up in the limbs of the hangin' tree