“Hang Me, Oh Hang Me (Been All Around This World)”

Description

Man about to be hanged laments his life. Says, "Hang me, oh hang me, and I'll be dead and gone/It's not the hangin' that I mind, it's layin' in the grave [or jail] so long." In some versions he describes his life as a gambler.

Notes

Laws regards Belden's and Randolph's versions of this as a ballad, "The Gambler," which he lists as dE43. But the text seems much more diffuse than Laws's small and highly specific subset. - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "The Roving Gambler (The Gambling Man)" [Laws H4] (floating lyrics)
• cf. "Don't Let Your Watch Run Down" (floating lyrics)
• cf. "The Horse Trader's Song" (tune, floating lyrics)

Recordings

• Justus Begley, "I've Been All Around This World" (AFS, 1937; on KMM)
• Grandpa Jones, "I've Been All Around This World" (King 524, 1946)
• Art Thieme, "Cape Girardeau" (on Thieme02)

References

1. Belden, pp. 472-473, "The Gambler" (1 text)
2. Randolph 146, "My Father Was a Gambler" (2 texts, 2 tunes); 348, "Since I Left Arkansas" (1 text, 1 tune)
3. Randolph/Cohen, pp. 173-175, "My Father Was a Gambler" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 146A)
4. Friedman, p. 232, "The Gambler" (1 text)
5. Fife-Cowboy/West 92, "I've Been All Around This World" (1 text, 1 tune)
6. LPound-ABS, 57, pp. 130-131, "The Gambler" (1 text)
7. Lomax-FSNA 298, "John Henry-I"; 299, (1 text, 1 tune, containing a large portion of "Been All Around This World" or a relative)
8. Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 129-130, "I've Been All Around the World" (1 text, 1 tune)
9. DT, GAMBLR2
10. Roud #3416
11. BI, R146