The Ballad Of Edward Abbey chords by Tom Russell

Intro: Am

verse 1
                         F      G               Am
It was in the town of Tucson in Nineteen Eighty-Three
                                G             Am
A man named Edward Abbey come a walking up to me
                                           G               Am
He pulled his cigar from his mouth, said, "I smell lawyers here"
                        F          G               Am
The politician, running-dogs, they crawled away in fear


              G
Singing do-ra-do
              Am
Singing do-ra-day

verse 2
                        F      G                Am
Ed walked across the desert at least a thousand times
                        G                  Am
He spoke with javelina, slept 'neath piñon pine
                                      G                 Am
And if he saw a billboard there, he'd chop that bastard down
                                  F                    G                  Am
Said, if a man can't piss in his own front yard, he'd never keep close to town


              G
Singing do-ra-do
              Am
Singing do-ra-day
      F             C          E7              Am
Lord, I wish Edward Abbey were walking round today


verse 3
                      F              G               Am
Ed had a taste for women, in fact he married quite a few
                                          G            Am
He said, "I'd fall in love, boys, but I'm only passing through
                                   G                  Am
You know I like 'em all, boys, and some more than the rest
                         F              G               Am
I've tried my hand at monogamy, now I'm off to save the west


              G
Singing do-ra-do
              Am
Singing do-ra-day


verse 4
                   F              G             Am
Ed died one day at sundown in his Tucson riding shack
                                       G                 Am
They wrapped him in a sleeping bag and drove him way out back
                                      G          Am
Beneath the wild saguaro, the coyotes chewed his bones
                    F           G                   Am
And on a hidden marker, was 'No Comment', carved in stone


              G
Singing do-ra-do
              Am
Singing do-ra-day
      F             C          E7              Am
Yeah, I wish Edward Abbey were walking round today


Verse 5
                          F           G                 Am
Now I'm living in the desert, but the town is a-closing in
                                G               Am
Those cracker box developments, Ed would call a sin
                                        G                 Am
We stole this land from the Mexican and now we'll sell it back
                               F                  G               Am
And they'll live like mortgage prisoners in those goddamn housing tracts


Verse 6
                                      F            G                 Am
Tell me, who votes for the mountain lion, tell me, who votes for the fox
                                  G                  Am
Who votes for the spotted owl who hides there in the rocks
                                       G               Am
I wish that Ed would come again with a chainsaw in his hand
                               F          G                Am
And carve all up those housing tracts and take on back the land


              G
Singing do-ra-do
              Am
Singing do-ra-day
      F             C          E7              Am
Yeah, I wish Edward Abbey were walking round today