Lyrics:

It's too late, too late, too late, too late, too late
It's too late, too late, too late, too late, too late
I'm on my way to Deadville and mama must I hesitate

She was runnin' with 25 or 30 men. And one man in the bus, she liked bestest of them all
He was a sweetback man. And the mens was comin' around, they asks her what she want
She didn't want nothin' from them then
But when her sweetback man come around to ask her for one dime, you didn't see her no more
Her mama walked up and said 'Darlin' don't you worry'
She looked at her mama and here' what she said:

T.B.'s alright to have if your friends'd treat you so low down
T.B.'s alright to have, friends'd treat you so low down
Don't you ask 'em for no favors, they even stop a-comin' around

Mama said 'Daughter don't you worry', she looked at her mama, here' what she said:

The T.B.'s killin' me
The T.B.'s killin' me
I'm a-like a prisoner, I'm always a-workin' this chain

Her mama walked up to her daughter and said 'Don't you worry'
She began to think about it but she was on her feet
Wearin' her high-heel slippers and her drop-stitch hose
She walked around to her mama, here' what she said:

And it's on my feet, couldn' even but walk down the street
Where the men a-lookin' at me, from my head to my feet
But it's late now, that T.B.s killin' me
I want my body buried, in the deep blue sea

These are the last few words she said
Her mama walked up, looked down in her daughter's face, and here' what her daughter said

I've got a-too-bercolosis, consumption is killin' me