Gordon Bok – Pearly Little Red (Guitar)

            C            G           C
Down in the dark and the doom of the city

          G                       D
There's a monstrous old gathering hall

      C                  G          Em
And a man there making a windy long speech

       C                D
To the lords and ladies all

G                 C               G
Fifteen thousand, twenty thousand people

C                     D
Milling and murmuring there

     Em             D            C      G
"And this ain't the place," says I to myself

       C           D               G     D
"For a fellow that needs the fresh air"

     G                       Em       G
So I asked for directions to get me outside

      C                     D
And I followed them all for sure

      Em       D         C           G
And I ended up down, ten floors underground

      C            D      G    D
And I never saw an exit door

    G                 Em          G
The first live soul I saw was a policeman

       C                         D
He was long, he was leaning on a rail

        Em          D     C            G
I says "I'll get to him before he sees me

    C                     D
And ferries me off to the jail"

     G                     Em        G
So I ease myself up on his starboard quarter

          C                         D
I says "Excuse me, your honour, for sure

       Em           D          C          G
But if you've got a minute and nothing to do

          C       D              G      D
Could you head me out toward the air?"

         G                       Em      G
Well, he pointed his finger back over me shoulder

    C                         D
And I peered away through the gloom

    Em           D             C    G
And there, sure enough, was an exit sign

C                      D      D7
Bright as the crack of doom

        G                        C      G
Well, I thanked him as nicely as ever I knew

      Em                      D
And I eased my way toward the door

       Em        D             C          G
But he fell into step with me, right alongside

        C        D            G      D
I could hear his heels on the floor

         G                              Em           G
Well, he smiled like the sharks out off Little Green Island

       C                  D
He had teeth all over his face

              Em           D               C         G
He says, "You know there's folks'd give an arm and a leg

C                       D
Just to get inside this place"

    G                            C          G
"Oh boy!" thinks I, "I've got my foot in it now

  C                              D
I never should have come to this town"

    Em      D             C          G
And I don't know what I'm doin' here now

        C        D        G       D
But I'm sure I'm doin' it wrong

                  G                 Em       G
He says, "There's people travel all over the country

C                         D
Just to come and see this thing

       Em          D                  C          G
But if I know your type, you'd rather sit around home

    C         D          G
And listen to Little Red sing"

                               C          G
"Little Red," I said, "I'll be damned," I said

         C                        D
"I got a friend by that name back home"

       Em                D        C          G
And he smiles and says, "Look, in this crazy world

           C                   D
You got to call them like they come"

     G                      Em       G
"And I can tell a Maine man any-damn-where

      C               D
I can tell him by his tongue

    Em             D            C      G
And you ain't that far from the exit door

             C         D        G       D   G
But you're a damn long way from home"

                                Em     G
Well, he laughs till the echoes laugh again

          C                  D
He says "Okay, hold out your paws"

     Em        D           C           G
So I closed my eyes, and I held out my hands

        C                         D
Like my fingers were breaking the laws

              G            C
And there was blueberries, blackberries

G               D
Tumbled into my hand

C                        G            Em
Rosehips bright with the smell of the night

     C                 D
From off of the summer land

          G                    C
He says, "Little sister stayed home on the island

    G                  D     C
She visits us now and again

                      G             Em
Brings us all she can pick from the hills

       C                    D
And it sure does taste like home"

G
Well, we stood in the darkness chomping them berries

C                      D
Eating them our of our hand

       Em          D          C             G
And my heart went away to the rocks and the bays

       C                        D
And my friends in that lonesome land

         G        C                      G
He says "Tell me, speaking of our mutual friend

         C                         D
How that tough little fast picking fool

    Em           D           C            G
Can find his way through the brambles and rocks

     C                    D
Of a homesick Maine man's soul"

           G                       Em           G
"Ah, but I guess he knows when the days get too long

        C                 D
And the morning comes too soon

        Em           D             C            G
There's nothing will knock off the edge of your troubles

     C          D        G
Like picking an old-time tune"

                               Em         G
Well, he stowed the empty bag away in his pocket

C                     D
Turned on his heel to go

       Em                D                C          G
And he says, "Well, good luck, and if you see Little Red

        C       D        G
Tell him Pearly says 'Hello'"