Mary Chapin Carpenter – John Doe No 24 (Guitar)

      E                            B
I was standing on the sidewalk in 1945

          E              B
In Jacksonville, Illinois

     E                            B
When asked what my name was there came no reply

                  E                              B
They said I was a deaf and sightless half wit boy

                     E                          B
But Louis was my name, though I could not say it

                      E             B
I was born and raised in New Orleans

                  E                           B
My spirit was wild, so I let the river take it

                        E       B
On a barge and a prayer upstream

           E
Well, they searched for a mother

         E
And they searched for a father

                            B
And they searched till they searched no more

    E
The doctors put to rest their scientific tests

                                  B
And they named me 'John Doe No. 24'

         E                        B
And they all shook their heads in pitty

            E             B
For a world so silent and dark

                                           E
Well, there's no doubt that life's a mystery

          B
But so too is the human heart

                      E
And it was my heart's own perfume

               B                  E                  B
When the crepe jasmine bloomed on saint Morgue Avenue

         E
Though I couldn't hear the bells

                  B                          E      B
Of the streetcars coming by toeing the track I knew

        E                B
And if I were an old man returning

E                           B
With my satchel and porkpie hat

E                           B
I'd hit every jazz joint on Bourbon

        E                     B
And I'd hit everyone on Basin after that

               E
The years kept passing as they passed me around

               B
From one state ward to another

       E                                      B
Like I was an orphan shoe from the lost and found

   E                    B
Always missing the other

         B
And they gave me a harp last Christmas

E                              B
And all the nurses took a dance

           E                         B
But lately I've been growing listless

          E                         B
I've been dreaming again of the past

              E
I'm wandering down to the banks

                      B                     E        B
Of the great Big Muddy where the shotgun houses stand

                 E                 B
I am seven years old and I feel my dad

           E         B
Reach out for my hand

                    E               B
While I drew breath no one missed me

                     E               B
So they won't on the day that I cease

E                      B
Put a sprig of crepe jasmine with me

    E                 B
To remind me of New Orleans

E                                  B
I was standing on the sidewalk in 1945

          E              B
In Jacksonville, Illinois