Wake Up John The Hanging Song chords by Fairport Convention

Chords with lyrics

Album: Babbacombe Lee (1971)
Artist: Fairport Convention (Written By Dave Swarbick and Dave Pegg)

A augmentedA CAPELLA (A augmentedA)

Wake up John, it's time to go Come along John and don't be slow

Come along John, don't be slow Wake up John, it's time to go

Wake up John, it's time to go

INTRO
DmDm A augmentedA x 7
G+G  D MajorD  FF

VERSE 1
  A augmentedA             FF    G+G    A augmentedA
A majorA priest joins the procession just to help me kneel
    B minorBm      C# minorC#m    D MajorD       DmDm
With a warder at my elbow and another at my heel
A augmentedA               FF     G+G   A augmentedA
Marching in the morning down a path I've lately seen
   B minorBm        C# minorC#m     D MajorD        DmDm
I was sleeping in this garden, am I still within my dream?
  A augmentedA              FF    G+G   A augmentedA
The echo of my heartbeat is the beating of a drum
  B minorBm        C# minorC#m     D MajorD      DmDm
And all the earth is singing with life's sweet hum
  A augmentedA            FF    G+G     A augmentedA
We filed in solemn silence, shuffled through a door
  B minorBm         C# minorC#m      G+G       A augmentedA
The place where life is taken for the letter of the law

CHORUS
A augmentedA           D MajorD       E MajorE
Shake the holy water, summon up the guard
BB      A augmentedA   G+G       F# minorF#m
Dying's very easy, waiting's very hard

VERSE 2
F# minorF#m                 B minorBm
A augmentedA rope was hanging from the roof, a sight which puzzles me
 F# minorF#m                BB
I thought a gibbet and a guard would make a gallows tree
  E MajorE              G+G
But now all is revealed, stamped there is the command
  A augmentedA                  BB
My feet are on the trapdoor with a rope around my hand
  A augmentedA           FF    G+G     A augmentedA
And now the executioner is shaking hands with me
  B minorBm     C# minorC#m      D MajorD         DmDm
"My duty I must carry out, you poor fellow," says he
 A augmentedA                 FF   G+G   A augmentedA
A majorA rope is tied around my feet and a bag upon my head
  B minorBm          C# minorC#m      D MajorD        DmDm
And then the noose which separates the living from the dead

CHORUS

VERSE 3
F# minorF#m                          B minorBm
There he whispers to me "Have you anything to say?"
    F# minorF#m                      B minorBm
My mouth is dry, my throat is tight, I answer "Drop away"
E MajorE                        G+G
Silence now surrounds me, my heart is beating on
    A augmentedA                         BB
The trapdoor hardly moves at all, my life is still my own

VIOLIN SOLO

A augmentedA    FF  G+G  A augmentedA x8

A augmentedA                 FF     G+G     A augmentedA
They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet still bound
    B minorBm      C# minorC#m        D MajorD      DmDm
While a carpenter is called for and an explanation found
   A augmentedA                FF    G+G    A augmentedA
"The rain has warped the timbers," I hear the hangman say
   B minorBm      C# minorC#m      D MajorD    DmDm
"It's funny but it worked well, I tried it yesterday"
F# minorF#m                 B minorBm
"All is mended now," they say, "your ordeal's nearly over
   F# minorF#m               BB
Your life's as good as ended," but I hear their voices waver
   E MajorE              G+G
Once more the bolt is shaken and again I hang in limbo
     A augmentedA                    BB
While the guards jump on the trapdoor and my body stands on tip-toe

CHORUS

VERSE 4
   A augmentedA              FF     G+G     A augmentedA
They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet still tied
 B minorBm       C# minorC#m        D MajorD       DmDm
A augmentedA warder holds onto the noose, the trapdoor opens wide
   A augmentedA             FF    G+G   A augmentedA
Is it magic or coincidence that keeps me on the brink?
  B minorBm        C# minorC#m       D MajorD        DmDm
It seems to work without me, "Will it kill me now?" I think
F# minorF#m                B minorBm
"Please, I'm tired of living and I really want to die"
   F# minorF#m             BB
I was taken to the scaffold and I heard the hangman cry
E MajorE             G+G
"Lee, I'm truly sorry, forgive these hands of mine"
  A augmentedA                    BB
He three\w the bolt and I felt the jolt the third and final time
  F# minorF#m                 B minorBm
My life was spared that morning 'cos it wasn't theirs to take
F# minorF#m                 BB
Three's the most the law requires, a man to feel the stake