The song begins with the lyrics that give it its name: The other verses in the Hicks version are: Please tell me pretty mama, honey where you stay last night?/Tell me, pretty mama, Lord, honey where you stay last night?/You didn't come home 'til the sun was shining bright.
This song has been performed by the jazz musician Jimmy Scott and in a drum-and-bass reworking by the Scottish electronic artist Colin Waterson.
Eric Clapton adapted the song, retitled "Motherless Child", and recorded it for his 1994 album From the Cradle.
A song with a similar title, "Motherless Children" (also covered by Clapton), is a blues standard, versions of which have been recorded by Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk and Lucinda Williams.
The song recorded by Elvie Thomas with Geeshie Wiley in 1930 tells of a daughter not following her dead mother's advice: