Bonita And Bill Butler chords by Alison Krauss

B7
E----------
B----------
G--2-------
D--1-------
A--2-------
E--0-------

on the G chord, do this as well.
E-3------3---
B-3------2---
G-0------0---
D-0------0---
A-2------2---
E-3----2h3---

Intro: Em, D, A, C, D, Em

Em                 D       A
I grew up in the scantling yards of Wheeling West Virginia
  C       D          Em
A wheelhouse cub looking for an open door
Em                  D     A
In the packet ways a Sweeney wed the keel of my Bonita
   C          D        Em
Just two months from her timbers til she moored
Em                   D     A
I paid the fare in billet on her maiden voyage to Vicksburg
C               D       Em
And talked my way to hand the tiller on the course
Em                      D     A
In her planks I carved a notch and sealed the vow ¨Be my Bonita¨
C          D        Em
And her dowry was my life between the shores

Chorus

Em        D       C         G
I was born with rouging ways, and she steered me like a woman
     C                   B7
From the port calls and the bawds that lead me stray
  Em      D       C       G
The calliope serenades, made the old towns come running
    C                  B7
And the boys would gamble shards to pull her chains
       C          D        Em
The striker’s boast would fain me loss, about the wrecks the shoals were
A
keeping
      C          D       Em
And how the old girl’s got poor Billy’s ransom saved



Em, D, A, C, D, Em x2

Em           D        A
On the lake at Bistineau, she set the wharf at Dixie
    C         D       Em
With a thousand bales of cotton on her main
    Em             D       A
As the great raft disappeared, the watermark went sinking
      C          D       Em
And she was stuck right hard, a listing on the bank
     Em            D       A
With the furnace still a blaze, I stood my last upon her
   C          D         Em
Then climbed the prow and took a landsman’s trade
  Em              D       A
¨A derelict now Milady¨ said the watch log I’ve concorded
     C       D          Em
¨Have the bosun sound us eight bells for the change¨

Chorus:
   Em        D       C         G
I was born with rouging ways, and she steered me like a woman
     C                   B7
From the port calls and the bawds that lead me stray
  Em      D       C       G
The calliope serenades, made the old towns come running

      Em      D       C        G
And I would take to wider walks, so the gin I stopped a drinking
  C                B7
At three scores aloft this crooked frame
       C          D        Em
The striker’s boast would fain me loss, about the wrecks the shoals were
A
keeping
      C          D       Em
And how the old girl’s got poor Billy’s ransom saved

Outro: Em, D, A, C, D, Em