Hang your head,
Tom Dooley,
hold your head and cry.
You killed Pearl Arie Foster,
now you're bound to die.
Took her on that hillside,
as God Almighty knows.
Well,
you took her on that hillside,
boy,
there you took her clothes.
Took her by that roadside where you begged to be excused.
Well,
you took her by that roadside,
and there you took her shoes.
So hang your head,
Tom Dooley,
hold your head and cry.
You killed Pearl Arie Foster,
now you're bound to die.
Took her on that hillside,
fortune maker,
your wife.
Well,
you took her on that hillside,
and there you took her life.
Then you dug a grave four foot long,
dug it three foot deep.
Well,
you throw the coal clay,
your face is stamped with your feet.
So hang your head,
Tom Dooley,
hold your head and cry.
You killed Pearl Arie Foster,
boy,
now you're bound to die.
Take down my old violin, play it on you please.
Well, this time tomorrow it'll be no use to me.
Well,
this world and one more where you reckon I'd be,
if it hadn't been for Grace and I'd have been in Tennessee.
So hang your head,
Tom Dooley,
hold your head and cry.
You killed Pearl Arie Foster,
now you're bound to die.