“Ninety-Nine Years (I)”

Description

Singer, while gambling, thinks about how the woman he loves ran away with another man. He kills him (or her), is arrested and imprisoned. He has served forty years, but "still has ninety-nine." When the train rolls by with the woman he loves, he cries

Long description

Singer sits down to gamble, thinking about how the woman he loves has run away with another man. He does something (kills her? kills her lover?), is arrested, tried and sentenced to prison. He has served forty years, but "still has ninety-nine." When the train rolls by with the woman he loves, he hangs his head and cries

Notes

There is another song with the same title; that one can be identified by its opening lines, "The courtroom was crowded/The judge waited there" and by the line "Ninety-nine years, boys, is almost for life." - PJS

Same tune

• Elton Britt, "The Answer to 99 Years" (Conqueror 8288, 1934)

Cross references

• cf. "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2]" (tune)

Recordings

• Callahan Brothers, "Ninety-Nine's My Name" (Perfect 7-04-63, 1937)
• Graham Bros. "Ninety Nine Years [pts. 1 & 2]" (Victor 23654, 1932) 2/23/32
• Jess Hillard, "Ninety-Nine Years" (Champion 16398, 1932; Champion 45091, c. 1935; rec. 1931) (Champion 16617, 1933; rec. 1932)
• Steve Ledford & Donald Nicholson w. Carolina Ramblers String Band, "Ninety-Nine Years" (Perfect 12787, 1932)
• [Asa] Martin & [Bob] Roberts, "Ninety-Nine Years" (Banner 32426/Melotone M-12436/Perfect 12799/Vocalion 5486 [as Glen Fox & Joe Wilson]/Conqueror 7967, 1932)
• Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner [Mac and Bob] "Ninety-Nine Years, Parts1 & 2" (Brunswick 588, 1932)
• Fiddlin' Doc Roberts Trio, "Ninety Nine Years" (Banner 32609/Melotone 12520, 1932)
• Vagabonds, "Ninety Nine Years" (Victor 23820/Bluebird B-5282/Montgomery Ward M-4307, 1933)