To the Boys of America.
"Don't You Go, Tommy" (1867)
Words and Music by C. T. Lockwood

1.
You'll rue it my boy, now mind what I say,
Don't spend your money and time in that way,
There's no one but idlers that lounge about so,
I beg of you Tommy, don't go,
We're feeble and old, your mother and me;
And kind to us both you ever should be,
To whiskey-shops, billiards, and cards bid adieu,
I beg of you Tommy, don't go.

CHORUS [sung after 1st and 2nd verse]
Don't go Tommy, don't go,
Stay at home, Tommy, don't go,
There's no one but idlers that lounge about so,
I beg of you Tommy, don't go, don't go.

2.
Why don't you be steady, and work like a man,
I can't hold the plow, but still do what I can,
There's so much to do, and our grain we must sow,
I beg of you Tommy, don't go.
Besides, there is corn and potatoes to plant;
You're young and can stand it, you know that I can't,
Let whiskey alone, for it grieves mother so,
I beg of you Tommy, don't go.

3.
We've watch'd o'er you Tommy, in sweet infancy,
Whilst angels were silently becking to thee,
At midnight we knelt by your cradle so low,
I beg of you Tommy, don't go.
Be kind to us Tommy we'll soon pass away,
The farm will be yours, at no distant day,
Eternity's blessing you'll reap if you sow,
O, Tommy, dear Tommy, don't go.

CHORUS
Don't go Tommy, don't go,
Stay at home, Tommy, don't go,
There's no one but idlers that lounge about so,
O Tommy, dear Tommy, don't go, don't go.