The Last Ride chords by Hank Snow

• Difficulty: Beginner 👶

Verse:
C
In the Dodge City yards of the Sante Fe
                                G7
Stood a freight made up for the east

And the engineer with his oil and waste
                            C
Was grooming the great iron beast

Verse:

While ten cars back in the murky dust
     C7             F
A boxcar door swung wide
      G7
And a hobo lifted his pal aboard
                           C
To start on his last long ride

Verse:
  F
A lantern swung and the freight pulled out
                       C
The engine it gathered speed
    F
The engineer pulled the throttle wide
    D7                   G7
And clucked to his fiery steed

Verse:
C
Ten cars back in the empty box
                  G7
The hobo rolled a pill

The flare of the match showed his partners face
                        C
Stark white and deathly still

Verse:

As the train wheels clicked on the coupling joints
  C7                    F
A song for the ramblers ears
    G7
The hobo talked to the still white form
                   C
His pal for many a year

[Refrain]
C
For a mighty long time we've rambled Jack
                          F
With the luck of men that roam
     G7
With the back door steps for a dining room
                     C
And the boxcar for a home

[Refrain]

We dodged the bulls on the eastern route
                    F
And the cops on the Chesapeake
   G7
We traveled the Leadville Narrow Gauge
                       C
In the days of Cripple Creek

[Refrain]

We drifted down through sunny Cal
                    F
On the rails of the old S P
    G7
And of all you had through good and bad
                          C
A half always belonged to me

[Refrain]

You made me promise to you Jack
                   F
If I lived and you cashed in
   G7
To take you back to the old churchyard
                             C
And bury you there with your kin

[Refrain]

You seemed to know I would keep my word
                    F
For you said that I was white
     G7
Well I'm keeping my promise to you pal
                          C
Cause I'm taking you home tonight

[Refrain]

I hadn't the money to send you there
                          F
So I'm taking you back on the fly
     G7
It's the decent way for a Bo to go
                   C
Home to the by and by

[Refrain]

I knew that fever had you Jack
                     F
And that doctor just wouldn't come
   G7
He was too busy treating the wealthy folks
                     C
To doctor a worn out bum

Verse:
C
As the train rolled over its ribbon of steel
                                G7
Straight through to the east it sped

The engineer in his high cab seat
                             C
Keep his eyes on the rails a head

Verse:

While ten cars back in the empty box
        C7      F
The lonely hobo sighed
        G7
For the days of old and his pal so cold
                         C
Was taking his last long ride