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The Ballad of Hortense and Clyde

from Searching for Diamonds by Matt Robert

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about

Old-time murder ballad based on a true story

lyrics

The Ballad of Hortense and Clyde
Matt Robert
Gather round me children
Gather by my side
I’ll tell the great old tragedy
Of Hortense and Clyde

Listen now closely
The better you may hear
How the son of two doing god’s work
Found his end in the electric chair

It begins in Kansas City
Where Clyde would find his board
In a mission on a dark street
Mom and dad preaching for the lord

But Clyde he wanted more
Wanted girls, he wanted gold
Took a job in a hotel ‘cross town
And left his mama’s fold

Hortense was good looking
And swept poor Clyde from his feet
When she batted her eyes and called him up to dance
On the night that they did meet

Hortense promised love
From her body and her mind
She smiled like an angel
But the devil lurked on her inside

Yes, Hortense was good looking
And Hortense thought Clyde fine
But she saved her true love for a coat she spied
In the window down at Rubenstein’s

Hortense said to Clyde,
“Aint that the prettiest thing you’ve seen”
When they saw the coat on display
As they passed along Baltimore Street

Mama said to son,
“Clyde, can you spare a dime?”
But Clyde said, “I’ll buy that coat
And make that sweet Hortense mine.”

Clyde moved to Lycurgis
Leaving Hortense in Missouri
He took a job at his uncle’s factory
And took up with socialite Sondra Finchley

Clyde was a gentleman now
Enjoying Sondra’s world
But Hortense hung on like an anchor
And Clyde didn’t want no factory girl

But Hortense was with child
And asked Clyde to do her right
She pestered him with tear-stained letters
And cried through every night

Clyde took Hortense boating
Dressed in her favorite gown
Rowed her to a secluded spot
And threw her in to drown

Old attorney Mason
Said this case is plain as air
That lothario preyed on a working gal
And I’ll see he gets the chair

The judge he thought so, too,
And the papers they agreed
Clyde’s was an open-and-shut case
The guilty verdict was brought with speed

Clyde was put on death row
Where his mom was his only friend
Though he left her for girls and gold
She stayed by him until the end

So, don’t defy your mother’s warning
Or the teachings of the lord
For those who give into carnal desires
Will find their end by the sword

No, don’t forsake the lord
Nor leave your mother’s side
For though you may get your gold
You might end up like Hortense and Clyde

credits

from Searching for Diamonds, released May 31, 2013
Words and music: Matt Robert
Matt Robert: Guitar and vocals

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Matt Robert Worcester, Massachusetts

New England musician, performing solo acoustic, original and roots covers as well as in Matt&Marty Acoustic Mayhem, with Marty Ayotte.

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