On My Way to Mexico

DESCRIPTION: "Well I woke up early this mornin', I was a-feelin' mighty wrong... that black gal, she had done gone." "She's gone to her mama." 'I knocked on Mama's door." "She said, 'Get away you mistreater.'" "On my way to Mexico" "I got arrested."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (recorded from Jesse Lee Warren by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: separation abuse prison
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Jackson-WakeUpDeadMan, pp. 302-303, "On My Way to Mexico" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Black Gal (I)" (lyrics)
NOTES [94 words]: Like so many prison songs, this seems to have had very fluid lyrics; Jackson mentions that he often heard it mixed with "Stewball" (but does not print any variants). I suspect that the original plot may have run something like this: The man wakes up and finds his girl gone. He traces her to her mother's house. The mother tells him to leave. He tries to break in, then flees when the police are called. He tries to escape to Mexico, but is caught and sent to prison.
The versions in Jackson, however, have done enough lyric-swapping that it is hard to be sure. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: JDM302

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