West Virginia

Rock of ages cleft for me Now that could be the voice of John F Morgan in the Ripley jailhouse singin' hymns Well ol' Johnny might just be singin' hymn this morninCause this is gonna be a hangin' day for him Now people say that Johnny was a bad man and that he had a aim for bein' mean He took a hatchet one cold weary morning he killed two children and the widow Green Five thousand people gathered there in Ripley invited by the sheriff Jay O Sean Havin' fun and drinking moonshine liquor and listenin' to ol' Johnny singin' hymn The day dawned cold in Ripley West Virginia the scaffold stood in silence in a field Johnny kept on singin' in the jailhouse waiting there to eat his final meal Then rumor started flying through the gathering That John F Morgan might get his reprieve The people started yelling toward the sheriff Afraid they'd miss for all they come to see But Jay O Sean the sheriff of Jackson County Afraid that such a thing could have been done Said I said there was gonna be a hangin' and I still mean it there's a gonna be one They led John Morgan from the Ripley jailhouse And he rode through the happy laughin' crowd But when John Morgan stepped upon the scaffold They grew quiet when he tip his hat and bowed