The Highwayman Album chords by The Highwaymen

• Capo on 2nd
• Difficulty: Advanced

#  Title
------------------------------------------------------------------
1.) Highwayman
2.) The Last Cowboy Song
3.) Jim
I Wore a Tie Today
4.) Big River
5.) Committed to Parkview
6.) Desperados Waiting for a Train
7.) Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)
8.) Welfare Line
9.) Against the Wind
10.) The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over
------------------------------------------------------------------

1.) "Highwayman"

!: Capo on 2nd fret !:

Intro:

Am




Verse 1:
Am     G           F         Am
  I was a highwayman, along the coach roads I did ride
G         F    C  G
  With sword and pistol by my side
Dm     Am         G       F
  Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
Dm     Am        G        F
  Many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade
Am        G        F    G    C
  The bastards hung me in the spring of twenty-five
  F      G
But I am still alive


Verse 2:
Am     G       F       Am
  I was a sailor
I was born upon the tide
G        F      G
  And with the sea
I did abide
Dm      Am         G      F
  I sailed a schooner around the horn to Mexico
Dm     Am         G       F
  I went aloft and furled the mainsail in a blow
Am        G          F     G   C
  And when the yards broke off, they said that I got killed
  F     G
But I'm living still


Verse 3:
Am     G          F       Am
  I was a dam builder, across a river deep and wide
G         F      G
  Where steel and water did collide
Dm        Am       G     F
  A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado
Dm        Am       G       F
  I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
Am       G        F     G   C
  They buried me in that gray tomb that knows no sound
  F      G
But I am still around


Chorus:
        C      G      Am     G      F      C   Dm  F G C
I'll always be around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around


Verse 4:
Am     G          F     Am
  I fly a starship across the universe divide
G       F        G
  And when I reach the other side
Dm       Am        G      F
  I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Dm      Am      G     F
  Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Am      G      F       C
  Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
F       G
But I will remain


Chorus:
         C     G     Am     G     F     C  Dm F G C
And I'll be back again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again

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2.) "The Last Cowboy Song"

Intro:

D


Chorus:
D
This is the last cowboy song
             G
The end of a hundred year waltz
  A7
The voices sound sad as they're singing along
              D
Another piece of America's lost




Verse 1:
D
He rides the feed lots, clerks in a market
                A7
On weekends selling tobacco and beer
    A7
And his dreams of tomorrow, surrounded by fences
                        D
But he'll dream tonight of when fences weren't here


Verse 2:
D
He blazed the trail with Lewis and Clark
                     A7
And eyeball to eyeball, old Wyatt backed down
     A7
He stood shoulder to shoulder with Travis in Texas
                      D
And rode with the Seventh when Custer went down


Chorus:
D
This is the last cowboy song
             G
The end of a hundred year waltz
  A7
The voices sound sad as they're singing along
              D
Another piece of America's lost


Verse 3:
D
Remington showed us how he looked on canvas
                 A7
And Louis L'Amour has told us his tale
    A7
Me and Johnny and Waylon and Kris sing about him
                      D
And wish to God we could have ridden his trail


Verse 4:
D
  The old Chisholm Trail is covered in concrete now
                    G
And they truck 'em to market in fifty foot rigs
A7
  They roll by his marker and don't even notice
                     D
Like living and dying was all he ever did


Chorus:
D
This is the last cowboy song
             G
The end of a hundred year waltz
  A7
The voices sound sad as they're singing along
              D
Another piece of America's lost
D
This is the last cowboy song
             G
The end of a hundred year waltz
  A7
The voices sound sad as they're singing along
              D
Another piece of America's lost

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3.) "Jim
I Wore a Tie Today"

Intro:

C G7 C G7




Verse 1:
C  G7   F        C
Jim
Jim
I wore a tie today
F                 G7
  The first one that I ever wore
C      C7    F
  You have said that I looked like a dummy
D7             G7
  Out of a dry goods store


Verse 2:
   C  G7         F        C
Oh
Jim
Jim, the preacher said a lot of things
    F          G7
But I didn't hear a word he said
  C     C7    F
My mind kept wandering back down the trail
C      G7      C
Back to the good times we had


Pre-Chorus:
G7             C
  Riding herd through the sun and the rain
G7             C
  Panning for gold on the cuff
G7             C
  We did everything in the books
I guess
   D7             G7
And a lot that they never thought up


Chorus:
  C  G7       F     C
Oh Jim
Jim so you're riding on ahead
   F              G7
Well, if that's how it's going to be
C       C7     F
  When you reach those streets paved with gold
C      G7      C G7
Jim, stake a claim out for me


Verse 4:
C     G7                F
  We did everything we could do for you
Jim, but
   C
Your fever just wouldn't go down
F
  So we put you in the wagon
Jim
G7
  And this morning we got you back to town
C                  C7
  But when we got here, you were gone
Jim
      F
And there wasn't anything anybody could do
    C                  G7
They dressed you up in a fancy suit and a necktie
    C
So today, we wore one too


Pre-Chorus:
G7             C
  Riding herd through the sun and the rain
G7             C
  Panning for gold on the cuff
G7             C
  We did everything in the books
I guess
   D7             G7
And a lot that they never thought up


Chorus:
  C  G7       F     C
Oh Jim
Jim so you're riding on ahead
   F              G7
Well, if that's how it's going to be
C       C7     F
  When you reach those streets paved with gold
C      G7       C G7 C G7 C
Jim, stake a claim out for me

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4.) "Big River"

Intro:

E


Chorus:
 E
I taught the weeping willow how to cry, cry, cry
                     F#     B7
And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear, blue sky
    E                   A7
And the tears I cried for that woman are gonna flood you, big river
  E          B7      E
And I'm gonna sit right here until I die




Verse 1:
 E
I met her accidentally in St. Paul
Minnesota
                      F#       B7
And it tore me up every time I heard her drawl, southern drawl
   E                  A7
And I heard my dream went back downstream, cavorting in Davenport
   E         B7        E
And I followed you, big river, when she called


Break:
E  A  E  B7  E


Verse 2:
    E
Oh, she took me to St. Louis later on, down the river
                       F#        B7
A freighter said, "She's been here, but she's gone, boy, she's gone"
   E                  A7
And I found her trail in Memphis, but she just walked up the block
     E        B7      E
Raised a few eyebrows and went on down alone


Verse 3:
   E
Well
I pulled into Natchez next day, down the river
                         F#    B7
But there wasn't much there to make the rounders stay very long
   E             A7
When I left, it was raining, so nobody saw me cry
  E        B7      E
Big river, why's she doing me this way?


Break:
E  A  E  B7  E


Verse 4:
        E
Now, won't you batter down by Baton Rouge
River Queen, roll it on
                 F#      B7
Take that woman on down to New Orleans
New Orleans
  E               A7
Go on
I've had enough, dump my blues down in the gulf
E         B7        E
She loves you, big river, more than me


Chorus:
 E
I taught the weeping willow how to cry, cry, cry
                     F#     B7
And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky
    E                   A7
And the tears I cried for that woman are gonna flood you, big river
  E          B7      E
And I'm gonna sit right here until I die

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5.) "Committed to Parkview"



Verse 1:
N.C.    A              E7
There's a man across the hall who sits staring at the floor
                    A
He thinks he's Hank Williams, hear him singing through the door
     D           A
Theres a girl in 203 who stops by to visit me
     B7              E7
And she talks about her songs and the star that she should be
     A               D
There are lots of special people staying in or passing through
    A     D  A     D       A
And for one thing or another, committed to Parkview


Verse 2:
     A         E7
Theres a girl in 307 coming down on Thorazine
                 A
And a superstar's ex-drummer trying to kick Benzedrine
      D                A
There's a boy just down below me who's the son of some well-known
     B7                E7
He was brought in by his mother 'cause his daddy's always gone
     A                D
Theres a bum from down on Broadway and a few quite well-to-do
     A     D     A       D       A
Who have withdrawn from the rat race and committed to Parkview


Verse 3:
     A               E7
There's a girl who cries above me loud enough to wake the dead
                      A
They don't know what she has taken that has scrambled up her head
     D               A
There's a writer and a singer who has tried and tried and tried
      B7               E7
They just brought him in this morning, an attempted suicide
     A                  D
There are those who never made it, those who did but now are through
   A     D    A        D          A
Some came of their own good choosing, some committed to Parkview


Verse 4:
   A             E7
They wake us about 6:30, just before the morning meal
                     A
While they're taking blood pressure, they ask us how we feel
    D                 A
And I always say, "Fantastic, there ain't nothing wrong with me"
       B7             E7
And then they give me my injection and I go right back to sleep
    A               D
And my days are kind of foggy and the nights are dreamy too
N.C.    A   D    A      D       A
But they're taking good care of me, committed to Parkview

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6.) "Desperados Waiting for a Train"

Intro:

D G A7
D G A7




Verse 1:
D               C G/B
I'd play the Red River Valley
     A              Bm
And he'd sit out in the kitchen and cry
      G        Em        D   Bm
And run his fingers through seventy years of living
       G        Em         A
And wonder, "Lord, has every well I drilled run dry "
         A7      D
We were friends, me and this old man


Chorus:
   Bm             G
Like desperadoes waiting for a train
   Bm             G
Like desperadoes waiting for a train
G D/F# Em  Asus4 A


Verse 2:
    D                 C G/B
He's a drifter and a driller of oil wells
    A           Bm
And an old school man of the world
   G        Em        D    Bm
He'd let me drive his car when he's too drunk to
     G        Em      A
And he'd wink and give me money for the girls
            A7        D
And our lives were like some old western movie


Chorus:
   Bm             G
Like desperadoes waiting for a train
   Bm             G
Like desperadoes waiting for a train
G D/F# Em  Asus4 A


Verse 3:
     D                       C G/B
From the time that I could walk, he'd take me with him
   A              Bm
To a bar called the Green Frog Café
        G   Em           D  Bm
And there were old men with beer guts and dominoes
G         Em         A
Lying about their lives while they'd play
              A7     D
And I was just a kid, they called his sidekick


Chorus:
   Bm             G
Like desperadoes waiting for a train
   Bm             G
Like desperadoes waiting for a train
G D/F# Em  Asus4 A


Verse 4:
D                      C G/B
One day I looked up and he's pushing eighty
      A                 Bm
And there's brown tobacco stains all down his chin
  G          Em       D   Bm
To me he's one of the heroes of this country
  G          Em        A
So why's he all dressed up like them old men?
              A7       D
Drinking beer and playing Moon and Forty-Two


Chorus:
   Bm             G
Like desperadoes waiting for a train
   Bm             G
Like desperadoes waiting for a train
G D/F# Em  Asus4 A


Verse 5:
D                      C G/B
  The day before he died
I went to see him
A               Bm
I was grown and he was almost gone
      G          Em       D    Bm
So we just closed our eyes and dreamed us up a kitchen
  G       Em        A
And sang another verse to that old song
       A7              D
Come on
Jack, that son-of-a-gun's a-coming


Chorus:
   Bm             G
Like desperadoes waiting for a train
   Bm             G
Like desperadoes waiting for a train
   Bm             G
Like desperadoes waiting for a train
   Bm             G
Like desperadoes waiting for a train

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7.) "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)"

!: Capo on 5th fret !:

Intro:

C  G   D7  G




Verse 1:
               C      G
The crops are all in and the peaches are rotten
               D7    G
The oranges are packed in the creosote dumps
     C           G
They're flying them back to the Mexican border
               D7     G
To save all their money, then wade back again


Verse 2:
              C     D
My father's own father, he waded that river
            D7       G
Others before him have done just the same
   C             G
They died in the hills and they died in the valleys
            D7    G
Some went to heaven without any name



Chorus:
  C          G
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita
  D       D7   G
Adios mi amigo
Jesus y Maria
   C             G
You won't have a name when you ride the big airplane
               D7   G
All they will call you will be "Deportee"


Interlude:
C  G   D7  G



Verse 3:
              C     G
Some of us are illegal and others not wanted
               D7      G
Our work contracts out and we have to move on
C             G
Six hundred miles to the Mexican border
                  D7       G
They chase us like rustlers, like outlaws, like thieves


Chorus:
  C          G
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita
  D        D7   G
Adios mi amigos
Jesus y Maria
   C             G
You won't have a name when you ride the big airplane
               D7   G
All they will call you will be "Deportee"


Interlude:
G  C  G
   D7 G
C    G
   D7 G


Verse 4:
   G             C     G
The sky-plane caught fire over Los Gatos canyon
              D7      G
A fireball of thunder that shook all the hills
    C             G
Who are all of these dear friends, scattered like dry leaves
             D7    G
The radio said they were just deportees


Chorus:
  C          G
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita
  D        D7   G
Adios mi amigos
Jesus y Maria
   C             G
You won't have a name when you ride the big airplane
               D7   G
All they will call you will be "Deportee"
  C          G
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita
  D        D7   G
Adios mi amigos
Jesus y Maria
   C             G
You won't have a name when you ride the big airplane
               D7  N.C. G
All they will call you will be  "Deportee"

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8.) "Welfare Line"

Intro:

D




Verse 1:
      D
Well now, boys
I've been to Bethlehem
             G
Rode there on a big steam train
            D
Lost two fingers in the steel mills
          A7    D
And I ain't goin' back again


Verse 2:
D
  I fought for my country
           G
Lord knows I did my best
           D
Crawling 'cross some foreign field
           A7   D
They pinned a ribbon to my chest


Chorus:
  G
So, pass around the bottle, boys
           D
Let's talk about old times
    D
Night's rolling in, it's cold as sin
A7         D
Here on the welfare line


Verse 3:
D
Served on the Georgia Road Gang
             G
Couldn't pay the debts I owe
            D
'Cause I ain't made of silver
         A7    D
And I ain't never seen no gold


Verse 4:
D
I still remember Rachel
         G
Soft as a velvet gown
           D
They laid her in the pauper's grave
       A7    D
On the other side of town


Chorus:
  G
So, pass around the bottle, boys
           D
Let's talk about old times
    D
Night's rolling in, it's cold as sin
A7         D
Here on the welfare line


Interlude:
D   G  D   A7 D


Verse 5:
  D
Now some folks are born to money
           G
You know I wish 'em well
             D
If the devil should ever want my soul
      A7   D
I swear I'd never sell


Chorus:
  G
So, pass around the bottle, boys
           D
Let's talk about old times
    D
Night's rolling in, it's cold as sin
A7         D
Here on the welfare line
G
Pass around the bottle, boys
           D
Let's talk about old times
    D
Night's rolling in, it's cold as sin
A7         D
Here on the welfare line

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9.) "Against the Wind"

Intro:

E




Verse 1:
E
  It seems like yesterday
G#m
  But it was long ago
    A           E
She was lovely, she was the queen of our nights
B7                A       E
There in the darkness, with the radio playing low
E
  The secrets that we shared
G#m
  The mountains that we moved
A             E
Caught like a wildfire and out of control
     A            B7
There was nothin' left to burn and nothin' left to prove


Pre-Chorus:
    C#m     B      E
And I remember what she said to me
     C#m        A   E
How she swore that it would never end
  C#m    B      A
I remember how she held me, oh, so tight
               B7
Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then


Chorus:
E        G#m
  Against the wind
     A          E
We were running against the wind
     A     G#m
We were young and strong
     F#m   A      E
But just running against the wind


Verse 2:
  E
The years rolled slowly past
G#m
  I found myself alone
  A             E
Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends
 B7            A      E
I found myself further and further from my home
E
I guess I lost my way
      C#m
There were, oh, so many roads
   A         E
I was living to run and running to live
    A              B7
Never worrying about paying or how much I owed


Pre-Chorus:
    C#m      B     E
Moving eight miles a minute for months at a time
     C#m   A       E
Breaking all the rules I could bend
   C#m   B    A
I began to find myself searching
            B7
Searching for shelter again and again


Chorus:
E       G#m
  Against the wind
     A          E
We were running against the wind
  A    G#m    F#m   A      E
I found myself seeking shelter against the wind


Interlude:
E  G#m  A E A B7


Pre-Chorus:
     C#m    B    E
All those drifter's days are past me now
     C#m   A        E
I've got so much more to think about
C#m   B      A
  Deadlines and commitments
                 B7
What to leave in, what to leave out


Chorus:
E        G#m
  Against the wind
     A          E
We were running against the wind
  A     G#m      F#m  A      E
We found ourselves seeking shelter against the wind
A G#m B7


Outro:
       A
Against the wind
      E   A
Against the wind
      E
Against the wind

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10.) "The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over"

Intro:

E




Verse 1:
E                A     E
  Back in 1899, everybody sang Auld Lang Syne
 E
A hundred years would take a long, long time
             B7
For every little boy and girl
      E
Now there's just one thing that I would like to know
       A     A7   E
Where did the twentieth century go?
                      B7    E
I swear it was there just a minute ago, all over this world


Chorus:
  A     E     A     E
All over this world, all over this world
                     B7    E
The twentieth century is almost over, all over this world


Verse 2:
   E
Does anybody recall the Great Depression?
              A    E
I read all about it in the True Confession
E
Sorry I was late for the recording session
            B7
But somebody put me on hold
  E
Did anybody see them linoleum floors
      A     A7    E
Petroleum jelly and two world wars?
                     B7    E
They went around in revolving doors, all over this world


Chorus:
  A     E     A     E
All over this world, all over this world
  E
The twentieth century is almost over
B7      E
Almost over, almost over
  E
The twentieth century is almost over
  B7    E
All over this world


Verse 3:
  E
Old father time is a-rumbling and a-rapping
             A       E
Standing at the window thumping and a-tapping
E
Everybody's waiting for something to happen
              B7
I hope it don't happen to you
       E
You know the judgement day is gettin' nearer
     A    A7    E
There it is in the rear-view mirror
                          B7    E
If you duck down I could see a little clearer, all over this world


Chorus:
  A     E     A     E
All over this world, all over this world
  E
The twentieth century is almost over
B7      E
Almost over, almost over
  E
The twentieth century is almost over
  B7    E
All over this world


Outro Chorus:
  A     E     A     E
All over this world, all over this world
  E
The twentieth century is almost over
B7      E
Almost over, almost over
  E
The twentieth century is almost over
  B7    E
All over this world
  A     E     A     E
All over this world, all over this world
  E
The twentieth century is almost over
B7      E
Almost over, almost over
  E
The twentieth century is almost over
  B7    E
All over this world
  A     E     A     E
All over this world, all over this world