Even before he lost his sight, he had sought to enlarge his repertoire by composing his own songs. He felt that he had ""learned the rudiments of music"" by virtue of attending five singing schools and studying one book ""up to where I could compose my own songs, set the music to it, and time it out"". With this confidence, he composed more and more songs, which increased his earning power in two ways: they added novelty to his performance; and he could earn extra by selling the lyrics. For the most part he had individual song lyrics printed on cards he called "ballets", but occasionally he compiled songbooks such as his 1913 compilation of six songs. Some of these were from other singers, dealing with disasters such as the sinking of the Titanic and the wreck of the FFV but two were notably personal: the autobiographical Song of the Orphan Boy, which was later recorded but not released, and the semi-autobiographical Farewell Song, with its opening line ""I am a man of constant sorrow"". Burnett himself never recorded the song, but his friend Emry Arthur learned it and recorded it accompanied his brother Henry using the opening line as title. The Arthur family lived in Wayne County not far from Monticello, and shared many songs with Burnett. He recalled learning one song from a ballet card from a third brother Sam. He acquired more ballets by exchanges with other blind musicians he met on his travels. Having learned the tune by listening, he would have the lyrics read to him until he had learned the whole song.