Girl Behind The Bar

As I walked in to the Wayside Tavern,

The smell of drink was in the air.

I laid my money on the counter.

This pretty maid was standing there.

My thoughts had drifted so far from me,

As I gazed upon her pretty face.

I knew she was my kind of woman.

No one could ever take her place.

I said, "When working hours are over,

I would just love to see you home."

She said, "Young man, that is my pleasure."

And soon we found ourselves alone.

And then our arms went around each other,

But I felt a knife stick in her back.

She turned and saw her lover running.

She said his name was Barnum Jack.

She did not know her lover followed.

She did not know he was around,

Until the fateful blow had struck her,

And now she sleeps beneath the ground.

As I sit alone tonight in prison,

My thoughts are of the one so rare,

That I met that night in the Wayside Tavern,

When the smell of drink was in the air.