Hank Snow – The Last Ride (Guitar)

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Chords

[Verse]

C
In the Dodge City yards of the Sante Fe

                                G7
Stood a freight made up for the east

And the engineer with his oil and waste

                            C
Was grooming the great iron beast

[Verse] While ten cars back in the murky dust

     C7             F
A boxcar door swung wide

      G7
And a hobo lifted his pal aboard

                           C
To start on his last long ride

[Verse]

  F
A lantern swung and the freight pulled out

                       C
The engine it gathered speed

    F
The engineer pulled the throttle wide

    D7                   G7
And clucked to his fiery steed

[Verse]

C
Ten cars back in the empty box

                  G7
The hobo rolled a pill

The flare of the match showed his partners face

                        C
Stark white and deathly still

[Verse] As the train wheels clicked on the coupling joints

  C7                    F
A song for the ramblers ears

    G7
The hobo talked to the still white form

                   C
His pal for many a year

[Refrain]

C
For a mighty long time we've rambled Jack

                          F
With the luck of men that roam

     G7
With the back door steps for a dining room

                     C
And the boxcar for a home

[Refrain] We dodged the bulls on the eastern route

                    F
And the cops on the Chesapeake

   G7
We traveled the Leadville Narrow Gauge

                       C
In the days of Cripple Creek

[Refrain] We drifted down through sunny Cal

                    F
On the rails of the old S P

    G7
And of all you had through good and bad

                          C
A half always belonged to me

[Refrain] You made me promise to you Jack

                   F
If I lived and you cashed in

   G7
To take you back to the old churchyard

                             C
And bury you there with your kin

[Refrain] You seemed to know I would keep my word

                    F
For you said that I was white

     G7
Well I'm keeping my promise to you pal

                          C
Cause I'm taking you home tonight

[Refrain] I hadn't the money to send you there

                          F
So I'm taking you back on the fly

     G7
It's the decent way for a Bo to go

                   C
Home to the by and by

[Refrain] I knew that fever had you Jack

                     F
And that doctor just wouldn't come

   G7
He was too busy treating the wealthy folks

                     C
To doctor a worn out bum

[Verse]

C
As the train rolled over its ribbon of steel

                                G7
Straight through to the east it sped

The engineer in his high cab seat

                             C
Keep his eyes on the rails a head

[Verse] While ten cars back in the empty box

        C7      F
The lonely hobo sighed

        G7
For the days of old and his pal so cold

                         C
Was taking his last long ride