The Ballad of Pearl Lafitte

Way down in New Orleans
On Bourbon Street
There was a gypsy woman
Named Pearl Lafitte
A beautiful woman
Skin soft as a dove
And ya know this woman
Was  a woman in love.
But  she was mean,
Lord knows she was mean
She was the meanest woman
New Orleans had ever seen.

Now Pearl had her heart set
On Paul Thibodeaux
But Paul didn’t love her
And he treated her so
He drank and he gambled
And when he was through
He hit and slapped her
Then he beat her up, too.
But  she was mean,
Lord knows she was mean
She was the meanest woman
New Orleans had ever seen.

Well, Pearl she was patient
Though inside she shook
She vowed that he’d pay for
The beatin’ she took
One night in the saloon
When business was bad
She caught Paul in the back room
And Lord, she was mad
She was mean,
Lord knows she was mean
She was the meanest woman
New Orleans had ever seen.

Ol’ Paul had been drinkin’
And he started to jab
But Pearl pulled a knife out
And she started to stab
There was blood on the ceiling
And blood on the floor
And in a few minutes
Paul didn’t move anymore
She was mean,
Lord knows she was mean
She was the meanest woman
New Orleans had ever seen.

The cops they done came an'
They took Pearl away
He had it comin’
Was all she would say
The judge and the jury
Convicted Ol’ Pearl
And, then they hanged her
That beautiful girl
But  she was mean,
Lord knows she was mean
She was the meanest woman
New Orleans had ever seen.