Red Oak Texas chords by Tom Russell

• Capo on 3rd
• Difficulty: Beginner 👶

Key: G

Intro:

G x2

Verse 1:

        G                          C
I drove into Waxahachie; I stopped off to drink a beer
        G
The old barkeep put a book down and said:
           D
Hello stranger, you’re welcome ’round here
                     G
He said, "I was just sittin’ here readin’ an old war poem;
               C
Kid from up in Red Oak lent the book to me
          Em
There’s a Robert Graves poem about a World War One soldier
            D
who found a body propped against a tree
           C         G
A kid from Red Oak

Verse 2:
          G
Well, the old man handed me my beer and said:
                      C
You want to hear real stories? Forget the TV news
          G
It’s just opinion and commercials, hell,
                D
I’d rather hear Elvis singin’ “Blue Suede Shoes”
G
You want some local color, kid?
                               C
drive on up north, keepin’ yer ear glued to the ground
      Em                                          D
Yeah, drive on up to Red Oak, ask about them twin war heroes from that town
                C             G
called Red Oak, Texas    Yea-eah

Chorus:
         C
He said, twenty miles south of Dallas,
          G
Where the Cape Myrtle trees do grow
                  C                           A              D
They found twenty-four empty beer cans, lyin’ on the bedroom floor
         C
One twin locked himself in there for two long years,
                          Bm               C
Reading this same book of poetry by Robert Graves
        G
Oh they learned how to fight, but not to heal
               D
’til there was no minds left to save
             C             G
In Red Oak, Texas     Yea-eah
         C           G
Red Oak, Texas

Verse 3:
         G
He said: You know the heat up there in August
                           C
carries the taste of fried catfish on the wind
        G
You may need a shot of whiskey to hear ’bout them
           D
boys that went to war, but didn't come back again
         G
Oh, they come back in their bodies, sir,
                       C
but something in their spirits had broken down
           Em
Yeah, them two twin boys from north of here,
       D
twin heroes from a Texas town
         C              G
Red Oak, Texas     Yea-eah

Chorus:
         C
Yeah, twenty miles south of Dallas,
          G
Where the Cape Myrtle trees do grow
                  C                          A              D
There was twenty-four empty beer cans, lyin’ on the bedroom floor
         C
One twin locked himself in inside there for two long years,
                  Bm             C
Reading this same poetry, Robert Graves
        G
Oh they learned how to fight, but not to heal
               D
’til there was no minds left to save
             C             G
In Red Oak, Texas     Yea-eah
         C           G
(Red Oak, Texas  )


Verse 4:
                                G
Then he said, You know, they’re buried together in The National Cemetery
C
in twin heroes’ graves
G
“That’s how they come into the world,” said their father, “and
                D
that’s how they left—the same old way”
       G
And to you who’d read my songs of war,
         C
and only hear of blood and fame,
     Em
I’ll say’ it again, and you’ve heard it before,
        D
“War is hell!”—that’s from Robert Graves
                   C             G
Here’s to Red Oak, Texas    Yea-eah

Chorus:
      C
So go drive on up to Red Oak
               G
where fried catfish rides the wind
      C
Say a prayer for those boys who went to war,
         A               D
but they never came back again
      C
Where propped against a shattered wall
        Bm             C
a great mess of things unclean
  G
A mind unwound that shattered and broke,
               D
blood-drenched shirt but face now serene
           C             G
In Red Oak Texas    Yea-eah
              C             G
Up In Red Oak Texas    Yea-eah
         C           G
(Red Oak, Texas  )
         C           G