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20 CLASSIC SONGS your friends will love

Beatles - Petty - Johnny Cash - Eagles - John Denver - Dylan

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    Father's Grave

    Len Chandler

     

    Chord Guide

          3    4

    G:    3x0003

    		         T  213

    D7/F#:  2x0212

    		        3 2 1

    C/G:   3x2010

    		        12

    Em:   022000

            231

    Am:   x02210

     

    Capo 5

     

    Intro:  / G - - - / D7/F# - - - / - - - - / C/G - - - /

                / G - - - / - - - - / - - - - /

     

                    G                       D7/F#

    With my swing blade in my hand

           C                        G

    As I looked across the land

             G                        Em               Am    D7/F#

    And thought of all the places that I'd been,

                      G                         Em

    Of that old house that I called home

                   G                  Em

    Where I'd always been alone

                    G           Em           Am  D7/F#                 

    And of that weedy grave that held          

                      C/G   G

    My dearest kin.

     

    Chorus:

                 C                          D7/F#                 G                    Em

    And as I cut the weeds from o'er my father's grave, father's grave,

          C                   D7/F#               C/G     G

    I swore no child I bore would be a slave

     

               G                          D7/F#

    The old house was just a shell

                         C                        G

    There were weeds around the well

              G                          Em               Am     D7/F#

    And I touched that rusty hinge that held no door

        G                       Em

    Oh, the roof was caving in

                G                   Em

    It was always sort of thin

              G              Em                 Am    D7/F#  

    And I found that place that the ash pan

                       C/G   G

    Burned the floor

     

    Chorus

     

    G                           D7/F#

    I thought of all the glad

                  C                        G

    And the good times that I had

                 G                     Em                     Am    D7/F#

    With my pockets full of purple plums each fall

                     G                           Em

    When the yard was wide and clean

                    G                            Em

    And the grass was short and green

    G                     Em         Am       D7/F#  

    Now the underbrush has laid its claim

         C/G   G

    to all

     

    Chorus

     

       G                           D7/F#

    I learned of violence done

                 C                        G

    By my mother's brother's son

                G                       Em                    Am    D7/F#

    Was it hate or hurt that held the hand to knife

                      G                   Em

    Oh, it was trouble in the mind

     G                             Em

    Guess that's the only kind

              G             Em              Am  D7/F#  

    Could make my cousin try to take          his father's

       C/G   G

    Life.

     

    Chorus

     

          G                      D7/F#

    It made me feel so bad

                   C                        G

    Lost the best friend that I had

              G                 Em                       Am    D7/F#

    And I didn't get to hear the preacher pray

                  G               Em

    Yes, and I was only eight

             G                      Em

    No, I can't recall the date

                  G                Em

    Nor the reason I was late

              G                         Em

    But a funeral just can't wait

                 G         Em                   Am  D7/F#  

    When I got to church they were rolling       

               C/G   G

    Him away.

     

    Chorus x2


    This file is the author's own work and represents his interpretation of this song. It's intended solely for private study, scholarship or research.