"The Bald-Headed End of the Broom" is an American song probably written around 1877 by Harry Bennett, originally titled "Boys Keep Away from the Gals". It became widely popular and was often recorded as an early country music song (1920s-1950s). Most singers consider it traditional. It appears in the Roud Folk Song Index as #2129. It was printed in Randolph's Ozark Folksongs (1946-1950), Brown's The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, Volume Two: Folk Ballads from North Carolina (1952), Browne's The Alabama Folk Lyric: A Study in Origins and Media of Dissemination (1979), Henry's Songs Sung in the Southern Appalachians (1934), Beck's Lore of the Lumber Camps (1948), Fahey's Eureka: The Songs that Made Australia (1984), Kennedy's Folksongs of Britain and Ireland (1975), Huntington's Folksongs from Martha's Vineyard (1967), Darling's The New American Songster: Traditional Ballads and Songs of North America (1992), Gilbert's Lost Chords: The Diverting Story of American Popular Songs (1942), Rorrer's Rambling Blues: The Life & Songs of Charlie Poole (1982). It was recorded by Jeff Warner on Jolly Tinker (2005), Waterson:Carthy on Broken Ground (1999), The New Deal String Band on The World of Folk 2, Martin Carthy on The Carthy Chronicles (2001), Grandpa Jones (1948), Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers as "Look Before You Leap" (1930), George Reneau (1924), Walter "Kid" Smith & Norman Woodlief with Posey Rorer (1929) and Mike Seeger on Oldtime Country Music (1962).