Elton John – The Drovers Ballad (Guitar)

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Chords

[Intro] D G x8 [Verse 1]
         D                                   G
From the sunburnt plains of far off North Australia

       D                                 A
Came a fella born to ride the wide brown land

      Em                        Bm              G
Oh he grew up running wild, but soon by all was styled

       D                               A
As the country's greatest-ever droving man

       D                                    G
Oh his legend rode the winds from Broome to Darwin

     D                                       A
They loved and loathed him right from end to end

             Em                         Bm                  G
For when the drover gave his heart to a girl whose skin was dark

     D              A                  D
From that day on he was no white man's friend
[Chorus]
   G                               Bm
So goes The Drover's story, you'll hear it near and far

           G                       D
And in the end it's all he'll ever own

            Bm                          F#m
It says the outcast is a free man if he sleeps under the stars

          C              Em                 A
Makes the blanket of the southern skies his home
[Verse 2]
          D                                 G
Then they called him up to fight for Mother England

     D                                      A
In a far off war that spilled his brother's blood

  Em                           Bm                G
Inside the jaws of Hell, where both his brothers fell

        D                                   A
He just watched his faith in man die in the mud

      D                             G
There was no hero's welcome for The Drover

       D                                   A
Just a country that had turned its back on him

        Em                               Bm                   G
When he came home from the war, his sick wife, they would not cure

             D            A             D
They let her die, for the colour of her skin
[Chorus]
   G                               Bm
So goes The Drover's story, you'll hear it near and far

           G                       D
And in the end it's all he'll ever own

            Bm                          F#m
It says the outcast is a free man if he sleeps under the stars

          C              Em                 A
Makes the blanket of the southern skies his home
[Instrumental] F C G Eb Bb F x2 G A A [Verse 3]
    D                           G
The Drover is a man of constant shadows

D                                 A
Haunted by his pain, his past and name

    Em                   Bm             G
For every mile he rides, what he cannot hide

       D              A              D
Is the longing in his heart to love again
[Chorus]
   G                               Bm
So goes The Drover's story, you'll hear it near and far

           G                       D
And in the end it's all he'll ever own

            Bm                          F#m
It says the outcast is a free man if he sleeps under the stars

          C              Em                 A   A
Makes the blanket of the southern skies his home
[Outro]
C              Em                 D
Blanket of the southern skies his home

G    D   G Gsus G D
 His home