Kentucky Avenue chords by Tom Waits

Tuning: Standard EBGDAE

Difficulty: Novice

Kentucky Avenue

note: for most of the song, there's this B-A quaver appoggiatura thing that plays in all
of the A/C# and D chords.

Intro: A/C#, D (repeated)

A/C#         D
Eddie Grace's buick got four bullet holes in the side
A/C#                    D    E7
Charley Delisle is sittin' at the top of an avocado tree
A/C#                    D
Mrs Storm will stab you with a steak knife if you step on her lawn
A/C#                    D    E7
I got a half a pack of lucky strikes man, so come along with me
A/C#          D
Let's fill our pockets with macadamia nuts
A/C#                  D    E7
And go over to Bobby Goodmanson's and jump off the roof

A/C#              D
Hilda plays strip poker when her mama's across the street
A/C#              D      E7
Joey Navinsky says she put her tongue in his mouth
A/C#                D    C#7
Dicky Faulkner's got a switchblade and some gooseneck risers
F#m7         B11        Bm7     E7
That eucalyptus is a hunchback, there's a wind down from the south
A/C#                 D
So let me tie you up with kite string, I'll show you the scabs on my knee
A/C#
Watch out for the broken glass, put your shoes and socks on,
D      E7
and come along with me


A/C#              D
Let's follow that fire truck, I think your house is burning down
A/C#                    D      E7
Then go down to the hobo jungle and kill some rattlesnakes with a trowel
A/C#               D
And we'll break all the windows in the old Anderson place
A/C#                  D      E7
We'll steal a bunch of boysenberries and smear 'em on your face
A/C#                  D
I'll get a dollar from my mama's purse, buy that skull and crossbones ring
A/C#               D      E7
And you can wear it round your neck on an old piece of string


A/C#              D
Then we'll spit on Ronnie Arnold and flip him the bird
A/C#                D    E7
Slash the tires on the school bus, now don't say a word
A/C#              D
I'll take a rusty nail, scratch your initials in my arm
A/C#                 D    E7
I'll show you how to sneak up on the roof of the drugstore


A/C#                   D
I'll take the spokes from your wheelchair, and a magpie's wings
A/C#           D      E7
And I'll tie 'em to your shoulders and your feet
A/C#               D
I'll steal a hacksaw from my dad, cut the braces off your legs
A/C#             D      E7
And we'll bury them tonight out in the cornfield


A/C#
Just put a church key in your pocket
D
We'll hop that freight train in the hall
A/C#               D
We'll slide all the way down the drain
E7         A/C#
To New Orleans in the fall

D A/C#  D A/C#  D A/C#
D A/C# D E7  Amaj9