Handsome Pete

Leader: Handsome Pete wore silk and a diamond ring!
Group: Swing that hammer, break that stone!
Leader: He had the judges dancing on a golden string!
Group: Swing that hammer, break that stone!
Leader: He drank his gin from a crystal cup!
Group: Lord, it’s a long way down when you’re looking up!
Leader: He never thought the law would catch his scent!
Group: Now he’s paying back every cent he spent!
Leader: Oh, Pete, he was the king of the North Side docks!
Group: Now he’s making little ones out of big-sized rocks!
Leader: He used to order hits with a silver cane!
Group: Now he’s just a link in a rusty chain!
Leader: The warden told Pete, "You’re a pretty sight!"
Group: But your suit’s got stripes and it fits too tight!
Leader: You used to run the rackets and the gambling play!
Group: Now you’re digging ditches in the Georgia clay!
Leader: He looks for his crew in the morning mist!
Group: But there ain’t no shooters on the warden’s list!
Leader: His boys all turned or they’re in the ground!
Group: And there’s no one left to buy his way out of town!
Leader: So swing it high and swing it down low!
Group: Handsome Pete has got nowhere to go!
Leader: The sun’s going down on a broken man!
Group: Working off a life on the installment plan

Rhythmic chain gang work song, heavy hammer strikes, deep male call and response, gravelly blues, stomp and holler