Bob Dylan – The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest (Guitar)

no capo             capo 5
Em/B  x-2-x-0-0-0   Bm/F# 2-x-4-4-3-2
Dm/A  x-0-x-2-3-1   Am/E  0-x-2-2-1-0
C/G   3-x-2-0-1-0   G/D   x-x-0-0-0-3
Dm/F  x-x-3-2-3-1   Am/C  x-3-2-2-1-0

| C | Em | Dm | C |
(guitar)

      C               Em/B
Well, Frankie Lee and Judas Priest,

     Dm/A                      C/G
They were the best of friends.

        C                  Em/B
So when Frankie Lee needed money one day,

              Dm/A                 C/G
Judas quickly pulled out a roll of tens

    C                    Em/B
And placed them on a footstool

      Dm/A                   C/G
Just above the plotted plain,

         C               Em/B
Sayin', "Take your pick, Frankie Boy,

   Dm/A              C/G
My loss will be your gain."

      C               Em
Well, Frankie Lee, he sat right down

            Dm/F           C/G
And put his fingers to his chin,

             C            Em
But with the cold eyes of Judas on him,

    Dm                | C/G C |
His head began to spin.

          C                           Em
"Could ya please not stare at me like that," he said,

      Dm              C
"It's just my foolish pride,

    C                    Em
For sometimes a man must be alone

    Dm                  C
And this is no place to hide."

C                    Em/B
 Well Judas, he just winked and said,

     Dm/A                     C/G
"All right, I'll leave you here,

    C                         Em/B
But you'd better hurry up and choose 

                         Dm/A                            C/G
Which of those bills you want before they all disappear."

C                    Em/B
 "I'm gonna start my pickin' right now,

     Dm/A                     C/G
Just tell me where you'll be."

C                       Em/B
 Judas pointed down the road

Dm/A            C/G
 And said eternity,

  C              Em
"Eternity?" said Frankie Lee,

Dm                       C
 With a voice as cold as ice.

C                              Em
 "That's right," said Judas, "Eternity,

Dm                                C
Though you might call it 'Paradise.'"

C                    Em
 "I don't call it anything,"

     Dm                 C/G
Said Frankie Lee with a smile.

C                  Em
 "All right," said Judas Priest,

Dm                        C
 "I'll see you after a while."

C                      Em
 Well, Frankie Lee, he sat back down,

Dm             C
Feelin' low and mean,

C                         Em
 When just then a passing stranger

Dm             C
Burst upon the scene,

         C                        Em
Saying, "Are you Frankie Lee, the gambler,

      Dm         C
Whose father's deceased?

             C                     Em
Well, if you are, There's a fellow callin' you down the road

         Dm              C
And they say his name is Priest."

C             Em
 "Oh, yes, he is my friend,"

     Dm             C
Said Frankie Lee in fright,

C                 Em
 "I do recall him very well,

 C                              Em
"Yes, that's the one," said the stranger,

   Dm         C
As quiet as a mouse,

          C                Em
"Well, my message is, he's down the road,

Dm                C
Stranded in a house."

      C               Em/B
Well, Frankie Lee, he panicked,

           Dm/A           C/G
He dropped ev'rything and ran

C                      Em/B
Until he came unto the spot

      Dm/A             C/G
Where Judas Priest did stand.

 C                     Em/B
"What kind of house is this," he said,

       Dm/A           C/G
"Where I have come to roam?"

      C                  Em/B
"It's not a house," says Judas Priest,

            Dm/A            C/G
"It's not a house, it's a home."

      C               Em
Well, Frankie Lee, he trembled,

   Dm               C
He soon lost all control

C                     Em
Over everything which he had made

          Dm                C
While the mission bells did toll.

        C            Em/B
He just stood there staring

                     Dm            C
At that big house as bright as any sun,

     C               Em
With four and twenty windows

      Dm                    C
And a woman's face in every one.

      C                       Em
Well, up the stairs ran Frankie Lee

       Dm/A              C
With a soulful, bounding leap,

     C              Em
And, foaming at the mouth,

            Dm                C
He began to make his midnight creep.

    C                  Em
For sixteen nights and days he raved,

    Dm                    C
But on the seventeenth he burst

C                Em
Into the arms of Judas Priest,

         Dm               C
Which is where he died of thirst.

C                Em
 No one tried to say a thing

          Dm                 C
When they carried him out in jest

   C                          Em
Except, of course, the little neighbour boy

    Dm             C/G
Who carried him to rest.

    C               Em
And he just walked along, alone,

         Dm                C
With his guilt all well concealed,

C                  Em
 And muttered underneath his breath,

 Dm           C
"Nothing is revealed."

          C            Em
Well, the moral of the story,

    Dm            C/G
The moral of this song,

   C                      Em
Is simply that one should never be

      Dm             C
Where one does not belong.

            C                           Em
So when you see your neighbour carryin' somethin',

Dm                C
Help him with his load,

    C                  Em
And don't go mistaking Paradise

         Dm              C
For that home across the road.

| C | Em | Dm | C |
(fade out over last four chords)