When a lad, I stood one day
By a cottage far away
And to me that day, all nature seemed more grand
For my Sue, with blushes red
Had just promised we should wed
And I’d come to ask her mother for her hand
As I told the old, old tale
Of a love that ne’er would fail
The gray-haired mother stroked her daughter’s head
And I fancied I could trace
Just a tear on her kind face
As she placed my sweetheart’s hand in mine and said

She was bred in old Kentucky
Where the meadow grass is blue
There’s the sunshine of the country
In her face and manner, too
She was bred in old Kentucky
Take her, boy, you’re mighty lucky
When you marry a girl like Sue

Many years have passed away
Since that well remembered day
When to that dear old Kentucky home I came
And my happiness through life
Was my sweetheart, friend and wife
For the sunshine in her heart remained the same
I am sitting all alone
In a place we’ve long called home
For yesterday my darling passed away
Though in tears, I think with joy
Of the day when but a boy
That I took her hand and heard her mother say

She was bred in old Kentucky
Where the meadow grass is blue
There’s the sunshine of the country
In her face and manner, too
She was bred in old Kentucky
Take her, boy, you’re mighty lucky
When you marry a girl like Sue