Seneca Creek chords by Charles Wesley Godwin

Tuning: Standard (E A D G B E)

Verse 1:
 Am              Em  C
In the Spring of 1949
 G                        Am
That’s when I crossed the county line
 Am                  Em  C
It’s there I saw in Seneca Creek
 G                            Am
A girl named Ruth who washed her feet
Am                     Em  C
I told her my name was RC Farris
 G                       Am
That I’d marry her with half a karat
Am                            Em  C
She said "I do, but no stone can reach
G                            Am
"The prettiest shine of this here creek"

Verse 2:
 Am                       Em  C
The mud was Deep and the roads were wide

We’d retreat and then re-take the lines
 Am                   Em  C
Korean winters had torn me down

And killed all the boys from my hometown
 Am                  Em  C
But I’m coming home, Ruth, my dear
G                          Am
I got money in my pocket, don’t you fear
 Am                  Em  C
We’ll build a life by Seneca Creek
G                           Am
You’ll have everything you’ll ever need


Chorus 1:
 C           G          F
Let’s build a home by Seneca Creek
 C           G        Am
And raise ourselves a family
 C           G                   F
I’ll work on the farm, you work the store
 C           G                   Am
We’ll have everything we ever hoped for
C            G                   F
With the top of a mountain above our heads
C            G                   Am
And the roar of Seneca by the bed

Seneca Creek


Verse 3:
 Am                      Em  C
And sure enough, the hard times came
 G                    Am
You loved yours, I did the same
Am                      Em  C
But we made it through the winter’s cold
 G                     Am
And many summers young and old
 Am                 Em  C
In ’85 the creek did rise
 G                    Am
But it only took the other side
 Am                           Em  C
It took Gandee, North Fork, and South Branch too
 G                              Am
The house still stood that I built for you


Verse 4:
 Am            Em  C
In ’94 when you got sick
 G                          Am
We’d make up trips for the hell of it
 Am              Em  C
Take my hand, Ruth, my dear
 G                   Am
I’ll take you back to any year
 Am                  Em  C
And now you lie on the hill up high
 G                  Am
Right beneath the mountain sky
 Am                  Em  C
Seneca Creek sings below
 G                   Am
Atop the tree sits a lonely crow


Chorus 2:
 C            G         F
We built a home by Seneca Creek
C            G         Am
And raised ourselves a family
C            G           F
I worked on the farm, you worked the store
C            G           Am
We had everything we'd ever hoped for
C            G           F
With the top of a mountain above our heads
C            G           F
And the roar of Seneca by the bed

Seneca Creek