Wild blackberries bloomin' in the thickest on the mountain Sheep shire and water cress are growin' round the fountain Where a big black bear is drinkin' lappin' water like a dog Tiger Whitehead's in the bed sleepin' like a log But tomorrow he'll see bear tracks seven itches wide And by sundown he'll be bringin' in the hide
Pretty Sally Garland comin' down the mountain side Where Tiger Whitehead's tryin' to nap a mill at the mill She sits down on a bearskin and she says you'll be my man I'll have me the best bearhunter in the hills A wild child was Tiger Whitehead and they say he killed Ninety-nine bears before he went to rest went to rest Once he left two bearcubs orphaned but he brought 'em right on home And Sally nursed the two bearcubs upon her breast Wild blackberries bloomin'...
Tiger now is eighty-five and he lay upon his bed And the bears he killed now numbered ninety-nine ninety-nine Some fellers trapped the bears but Tiger said just let him go If he ain't running wild he won't be mine But at the night when the wind howls cross the hills of eastern Tennessee And when the lightnin' flashes there's the strange thing that the people say they see An old grey headed ghost runnin' through mountains there It's Tiger Whitehead after his one hundreth bear Wild blackberries bloomin'...
