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

------------------------------------------------------------------

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

------------------------------------------------------------------

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

------------------------------------------------------------------

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

------------------------------------------------------------------

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

------------------------------------------------------------------

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