Slim Dusty – Lawsons Ghost (Guitar)
Capo 2
Key
-
Auto-scroll
Speed:
1.0x
Chords
|| Verses after the 2nd are spoken.
[Intro]
D
[Verse]
D G As I sat beside the campfire late last evening A7 D My old blue dog he lay close by of course G All was quiet except for bells and hobbles jingling A7 D And my horses fed along the water course.
[Verse]
G D You know the way a campfire makes you drowsy E A7 As you sit alone and gaze into its glow D G I must have drifted off and started dreaming A7 D And how I wish that dream was really so.
[Verse]
D D7 Up to my fireside walked a weary swagman G E He said goodnight and dropped his bluey down A7 and from his water bag he filled his billy G A7 D and while it boiled, he squatted on the ground.
[Verse]
D D7 He filled his pipe and lit it from the fire G E and in the glow his face I plainly saw A7 a face with lines of care and eyes of sadness G A7 D and I wondered where I'd seen that face before.
[Verse]
D D7 He said his name was Lawson, henry Lawson G E Then reached inside his tucker bag for tea A7 and threw a handle full in his battered billy G A7 D and filled two mugs and handed one for me
[Verse]
D D7 he told that he'd had a spell from tramping G E been resting a place called paradise A7 I said I’d never been there though I'd travelled G A7 D and seldom ever trod the same tracks twice.
[Verse]
D D7 he said he noticed that things had little altered G E from what they were a hundred years ago A7 he noticed precious water from the darling G A7 D still wasted in the ocean far below.
[Verse]
D D7 he puffed his pipe a while and mumbled something G E that sounded like the storm that is to come A7 he spoke about the drought and desolation G A7 D amazed that men of office still are dumb
[Interlude]
D G
A7 D B7
[Verse]
E E7 The curlews screeching overhead awoke me A F# I stirred the fire and put billy on B7 I just remembered then the old sundowner A B7 E but when I looked his swag, and he were gone
[Verse]
E E7 was it really ghost that came to see me? A F# or just a dream in my subconscious mind B7 oh I'll never know the answer to that question A B7 E until I’ve left this living world behind
[Verse]
E E7 then I thought about this Lawson, Henry Lawson A F# and all at once it hit me with a rush B7 he was the man who made his name immortal A B7 E and immortalised this country in his verse
[Verse]
E E7 he was the poet of the people, the common people A F# and he fought their cause with magic of his pen B7 and when sad alone and destitute he left us A B7 E he bore no ill to us, his fellow men
[Verse]
E E7 and now an afterlife to laud his greatness A F# A lasting monument that’s carved in stone B7 looks down upon some street where once he wondered A B7 E hungry, sad and worst of all alone
[Verse]
E E7 And from each 10-dollar bill that now is printed A F# there looks at us his only friendly dial B7 and he leans upon some haloed bar up yonder A B7 N.C. E I can almost see him smile, his quiet smile.