MAY I SLEEP IN YOUR BARN TONIGHT MISTER
(Aka CAN I SLEEP IN YOUR BARN TONIGHT MISTER)
(Sometimes known as THE HONEST HOBO)
(Author Unknown - Usually sung to the tune of "Red River Valley")

Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers - 1925
George Reneau - 1925
Ernest V. Stoneman - 1926
Vernon Dalhart (as Jeff Calhoun) - 1927
Boone County Entertainers - 1928
Red Fox Chasers - 1928
Joe Reeves - 1929
Harry "Mac" McClintock - 1930
Gene Autry - 1931
Walter Smith & Lewis McDaniel - 1931
Hank Thompson - 1959
The Sun Valley Trail Singers - 1960
Slim Dusty - 1961

Also recorded by: Mac Wiseman



One night it was dark and so stormy
When along came a tramp in the rain
He was making his way to some station
To catch a long distance train

May I sleep in your barn tonight, mister
It's too cold to lie out on the ground
With the cold rain falling upon me
And the north wind whistling around

You may see that I use no tobacco
And I carry neither matches nor pipe
I am sure that I will do you no harm, sir
Let me sleep in your barn just tonight.

You ask me how long I've been tramping
Or leading this kind of a life
If you'll listen I'll tell you my story
Though it cuts through my heart like a knife

It was three years ago last summer
I shall never forget that sad day
When a stranger had come from the city
So tall, so handsome and gay

He was tall, fine dressed, and looked sporty
He looked like a man who had wealth
And he said he had come to the country
To stay just awhile for his health

My wife said she would like to be earning
With some money to add to our home
She coaxed me until I consented
That the stranger would stop in and board

And one night when I came home from my work, sir
I was whistling and singing with joy
Expecting a warm-hearted welcome
To receive from my wife and my boy

Nothing did I find but a letter
That someone had placed on the stand
And the moment my eyes fell upon it
I picked it up in my hand

And the words that were wrote there upon it
Seemed to burn through my brain and drive me wild
For they told me the stranger and Nellie
Had run off and taken my child

Then I stopped at a farmhouse last summer
There they told me my baby had died
It was there for the first time in my life, sir
I knelt to my knees and I cried

Then they took me down to the churchyard
There they showed me a newly made mound
And they told me that Nellie, my darling
Lay asleep in that cold, solid ground

Now I'm sure there is a God up in Heaven
Or, at least, I've been taught to believe
I am sure He will keep on the record
The doom that he ought to receive


(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - January 2013)