Red Light Saloon

1. Early one morning I strode into town, 
And looking for fun I went strolling around. 
I knew I would find mesome sport pretty soon, 
When I saw there a place called the Red Light Saloon.

2. I walked in the door and stepped up to the bar,
A handsome young lady said, “Have a cigar.”
I smoked that cigar	while she sang me a tune;
And I felt right at home at the Red Light Saloon. 

3. She mussed up my hair and sat down on my knee,
Said, “Jack, you’re a woodsman, oh that I can see.”
“Well, that’s what I am, tell me, how did you know?
“Your muscle is hard from your head to your toe.” 

4. She felt all my muscles to prove she was right,
And I smoked my cigar without striking a light.
Now many a man has been led into ruin,
From the treatment you get at the Red Light Saloon.

5. Then early next morning I bid her goodbye,
As she gave me a kiss with a tear in her eye.
And I didn’t discover till early in June
That she’d slipped me a keepsake from the Red Light Saloon.

6. I’ll curse that young lady till the forest turns blue;
And with whiskey and women, I swear I am through.
But I know as I swear I would give my fortune
Just to be back again in the Red Light Saloon.


This is a song of loggers across the northern US.  “The Folk Song Abcdedary” in 1966 stated, “most versions of the song are unprintable,” so this is the version they included.  There was a Red Light Saloon in Muskegon, Michigan in the 1870’s, but they say it’s not clear the song was written about it.