G
Come and listen for a moment, lads,
C
And hear me tell my tale.
G D
How across the sea from England
C
D
I was conpelled (condemned) to sail.
G
the jury says me guilty,
C
Then says the judge, says he,
G D
"Oh, for life, Jim Jones, I'm sending you
C D G
Across the stormy sea.
C
And take a tip before you ship
G
To join the iron gang.
C
Don't be too gay in Botany Bay,
G D
Or else you'll surely hang.
G
Or else you'll surely hang," says he.
C
"And after that, Jim Jones,
G D
high upon the gallows tree
C G
The crows will pick your bones."
you' ll have no change for missed your thing
remember what i say
they flog the out of you
out there at Botany Bay,
The waves were high upon the see With the
storms ragin' round us,
And the winds a-blowin' gales,
I'd rather have drowned in misery
Than gone to New South Wales.
the waves were high upon the sea
Then pirates came along,
But the soldiers on our convict ship
Were full five hundred strong.
they opened fire and somehow drove
That pirate ship away.
I'd rather joined that pirate ship
Tan come to Botany Bay.
Now it's day and night and the irons clang,
And like poor galley slaves
We toil and toil, and when we die
Must fill dishonored graves,
but by and by I'll break my chains,
Well, into the bush I'll go
And I'll join the bravest rankers there,
Jack Donohue and co.
And some dark night, when everything
Is silent in the town
I'll kill the tyrants one and all,
I'll shoot the flogger down.
Oh, I'll give the low a little shock,
Remember what I say,
And they'll yet regret they've sent Jim Jones
In chains to Botany Bay.
[D] For fame and for fortune I [G] wandered the [D] earth,
And [G] now I've come [D] back to the land of my [A] birth;
I brought back my [D] treasures [D7] but only to [G] find,
They're less than the [D] pleasures [A] I first left [D] behind.
For these are my mountains and [G] this is my [D] glen,
The [G] hills of my [D] childhood will know me [A] again;
No land's ever [D] claimed me [D7] though far I did [G] roam,
For these are my [D] mountains [A] and I'm going [D] home.
The stream by the road sings at [G] my going [D] by,
The [G] birds overhead [D] wing their welcoming [A] cry;
The bay where the [D] gulls fly [D7] at last I can [G] see,
It's here that my [D] heart lies, [A] it's here I'll be [D] free.
For these are my mountains and [G] this is my [D] glen,
The [G] hills of my [D] childhood will know me [A] again;
No land's ever [D] claimed me [D7] though far I did [G] roam,
For these are my [D] mountains [A] and I'm going [D] home.
Old faces will meet me and [G] welcome me [D] in,
How [G] they will [D] greet me, my old friends and [A] kin;
At night by the [D] fireside [D7] old songs will be [G] sung,
At last I'll be [D] hearing [A] my own mother [D] tongue.
For these are my mountains and [G] this is my [D] glen,
The [G] hills of my [D] childhood will know me [A] again;
No land's ever [D] claimed me [D7] though far I did [G] roam,
For these are my [D] mountains [A] and I'm going [D] home.
[G] John Wesley Harding was a [Am] friend to the [G] poor
He [G] travelled with a gun in every [Am] hand [C]
[G] All across this countryside he [Am] opened many a [G] door
But he was [G] never known to [Am] hurt an honest [G] man
G Am G
It was down in Chaynee County, a time they talk about
G Am C
With his woman by his side he took a stand
G Am G
And soon the situation there was all but straightened out
G Am G
For he was always known to lend a helping hand
G Am G
All across the telegraph his name it did resound
G Am C
But no charge held against him could they prove
G Am G
And there was no man around who could track or trail him down
G Am G
For he was never known to make a foolish move
Aint it [G] just like the night to play
[C] Tricks when you're [D] trying to be so [G] quiet G/C G
We [G] sit here stranded, all d[C]oing our [D] best to [G] deny it G/C G
And [D] Louise holds a handful of rain tempting you to [G] defy it
Lights [C] flicker from the opposite [G] loft
In [C] this room the heatpipes just [G] coughed
The [C] country music station plays soft,
But there's nothing, really nothing to turn [D] off
Just [G] Louise, and her [C] lover so[D] entwin[G]-ed G/C G
And these [C] visions of [G] Johanna, that [D] conquer my [G] mind
In the empty lot where the ladies play Blind Mans Bluff with the keychain
& the Allnite girls they whisper of escapades out on the D-Train
Where you can hear the nightwatchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it's him or them that's insane
Louise, she's alright she's just near
She's delicate, and seems like the mirror
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna's not here
The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face
And these Visions of Johanna have taken my place
Now Little Boy Lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up, he speaks of a farewell kiss to me
He's sure got a lotta gall, to be so useless and all
Muttering small talk at the wall, while I'm in the hall
How can I explain, it's so hard to get on
And these Visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn
Inside the museums, infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa must've had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
See the primitive wallflower frieze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the moustache say
Jeez, I can't find my knees!
Oh jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
And these Visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel
The pedlar now speaks to the countess who's pretending to care for him
Saying 'name me someone who's not a parasite,
and I'll go out and say a prayer for him'
But like Louise always says 'you can't look at much, can you man'
as she herself prepares for him
And Madonna she still has not showed
We see this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler now steps into the road
He writes 'everythings been returned which was owed'
On the back of the fishtruck that loads
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys in the rain
And these Visions of Johanna are now all that remain
When you're [G] lost in the rain in Juarez, [C] and it's Easter time [G] too
And you're [G] gravity fails and nega [C]-tivity don't pull you [G] thru
Dont p[C]ut on any airs when you're down on Rue Morgue Aven[G]ue
They got some [D] hungry women there, they [C] really make a mess outa [G] you
G C G
Now if you see St. Annie, please tell her 'thanks a lot'
G C G
I cannot move, my fingers are all in a knot
C G
I don't have the strength to get up and take another shot
D C G
And my best friend my doctor won't even say what it is I got
G C G
Sweet Melinda, the peasants call her the goddess of gloom
G C G
She speaks good English and she invites you up into her room
C G
And you're so kind and careful not to go to her too soon
D C G
And she takes your voice, and leaves you howling at the moon
G C G
Up on Housing Project Hill, it's either fortune or fame
G C G
You must pick one or the other tho' neither of them
are to be what they claim
C G
If you're looking to get silly, you better go back to
from where you came
D C G
Because the cops don't need you, and man they expect the same
G C G
Now all the authorities, they just stand around and boast
G C G
How they blackmailed the Sergeant-at-Arms into leaving his post
C G
And picking up Angel, who just arrived here from the coast
D C G
Who looked so fine at first, but left looking just like a ghost
G C G
I started out on Burgundy, but soon hit the harder stuff
G C G
Everybody said they'd stand behind me when the game got rough
C G
But the joke was on me, there was nobody even there to bluff
D C G
I'm goin' back to New York City, I do believe I've had enough
[D] They sat together in the park, [Dmaj7] while the evening sky grew dark
[D7] She looked at him & he felt a spark [G] tingle through his bones
It was [Gm] then he felt alone, and [D] wished that [F#m] he'd gone [G] straight
And [D] watched out for a [A7] Simple Twist of [D] Fate
D Dmaj7
They walked along by the old canal, a little confused, I remember well
D7 G
Stopped into a strange hotel with a neon burning bright
Gm D F#m G
He felt the heat of the night hit him like a freight train
D A7 D
Moving with a Simple Twist of Fate
D Dmaj7
A saxaphone someplace faroff played as she was walking by the arcade
D7 G
As the light bust thru a beat-up shade where he was waking up
Gm D F#m G
She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gate
D A7 D
And forgot about a Simple Twist of Fate
D Dmaj7
He woke up, the room was bare, he didn't see her anywhere
D7 G
He told himself he didn't care, pushed the window open wide
Gm D F#m G
Felt that emptiness inside, to which he just could not relate
D A7 D
Brought on by a Simple Twist of Fate
D Dmaj7
He hears the ticking of the clock, walks along with a parrot that talks
D7 G
Hunts her down by the waterfront docks where the sailors all come in
Gm D F#m G
Maybe she'll pick him out again, how long must he wait
D A7 D
One more time for a Simple Twist of Fate
D Dmaj7
People tell me it's a sin to know and feel too much within
D7 G
I still believe she was my twin, but I lost the ring
Gm D F#m G
She was born in spring, but I was born too late
D A7 D
Blame it on Simple Twist of Fate