"I'll Never Go Back on the Boys" (1871)
Song and Chorus
Words by John M. Rickard
Music by Henry Tucker

1.
We have met after long years of parting,
  And friends gather round me once more.
To give their old comrade a greeting
  For they know that my wand'ring is o're.
Of wealth I acquired I've aquired a plenty
  To purchase all this world's hoys.
But the days I was poor I'll remember,
  So I'll never go back on the Boys.

CHORUS
Then here's may we never know sorrow,
  Together we'll share all our joys.
I'll meet you again on the morrow,
  For I'll never go back on the Boys.
 
2.
Ere fortune had deigned to smile on me
  I was hard up and almost unknown.
Save the few friends I now have around me,
  But their lots were as hard as my own.
Of affection, our ties will never sever,
  For I've always a dollar to spend.
And if I should live forver
  I'll never go back on a friend.

(CHORUS)

3.
When riches are gained in the world,
  How often we find it the truth,
That some, though once poor, are foregetful--
  They go back on the friends of their youth.
They spurn when the pass an aquaintance,
  Whose coat may be tattered or torn;
Oh, why then go back on our old friends,
  Because they are poor and forlorn.

(CHORUS)

4.
I always shall deem it a pleasure
  In doing a square honest deed,
I ne'er will be hoarding a treasure,
  When I know there's a poor friend in need
Perhaps I would be returned twofold.
  But, what is prized better still,
We'll sure have the prayers of the poor man,
  If we help him along up the hill.

(CHORUS)