Route 23 chords by Chatham County Line

Intro: D F#m G A D


Verse
D                                      G            D
Well I spent my whole life since I was high as a knee
     D                               A
By that two-lane blacktop they call Route 23
     D
My daddy ran a service station
         G               D
And the pumps they did shine
      D                    F#m                 G               D
I'd watch him wash the windshields, keep the old look to that mind

Verse
           D                           G         D
Well the days they were long, but the money was good
    D                                                   A
The only things that changed were the seasons and the shapes of the hoods
          D                               G    D
'Til the government came on the radio in late '55
          D                         F#m
Said the state's gonna build a new highway
            G               D
One that's fast, smooth and wide


               G               Bm           D
With that new highway, no one stops here anymore
  D                  G              D            A
And you can't make living without swinging that door
     D                           G            D
The sign by the roadside still says "Come On In"
         F#m                                    G        D
But the bulbs are long since burnt out, not to light up again


Verse
      D                         G           D
Now daddy was as stubborn as a mule in the snow
           D                                         A
He said, "Good folks return to the places that they know"
              D                          G            D
But after the gravel arrived and those steamrollers whined
           D                     F#m
All those good folks left me and daddy
           G           D
And those two lanes behind


               G               Bm           D
With that new highway, no one stops here anymore
  D                  G              D            A
And you can't make living without swinging that door
     D                           G            D
The sign by the roadside still says "Come On In"
         F#m                                    G        D
But the bulbs are long since burnt out, not to light up again


Instrumental: D D F#m G G G A D

Verse
         D                                G     D
Now the calendar on the wall still reads 19 and 75
         D                                 A
No one crossed out the day that my daddy died
     D                                      G       D
We laid him in the ground 'neath that old sycamore tree
        D                     F#m                 G    D
That shades a boarded up gas station...   out on Route 23


               G               Bm           D
With that new highway, no one stops here anymore
  D                  G              D            A
And you can't make living without swinging that door
     D                           G            D
The sign by the roadside still says "Come On In"
         F#m                                    G        D
But the bulbs are long since burnt out, not to light up again

           F#m                                    G        D
Yeah, the bulbs are long since burnt out, not to light up again