I plan to break off South
Find some labor to put food in my mouth
Be miles away by nightfall today
I won't hear you if you scream or shout
And if you call out my name
My reaction won't be the same
But many a men can fulfill your plan
Have them take a ticket and wait
O-hi-e-o, O-hi-e-aye
Forty dollars in the bottom of my boots
O-hi-e-o, O-hi-e-aye
I'll be crossing it with out you, girl
Crossing that river without you
When I hit southern Illinois
If you're still hoping to employ
Me as your man, sorry darling you can't
That opportunity you destroyed
I'll be marching towards Cairo
With two feet on fire-o
Passed boarded up shacks, rusted Cadillacs
Towards the banks of the Ohio
O-hi-e-o, O-hi-e-aye
Forty dollars in the bottom of my boots
O-hi-e-o, O-hi-e-aye
I'll be crossing it with out you, girl
Crossing that river without you.