Strawbs – Beside The Rio Grande (Guitar)

   Am                                Em
It happened rather suddenly that the Preacher came to town

     Am                             Em
With stories from the testaments of men of great renown

         Am                          Em
With his box of patent medicines, he swore to cure all ills

         Am
From the lameness in the horses, to the children's colds and chills

                                                     Em
And he had along his Indian wife and a country music band

    Am                              F            Am      Em  Am  G
Who sang of peace and brotherhood beside the Rio Grande

        Am                                 Em
Now the Preacher quickly gathered sick and poor from miles around

    Am                             Em
Who came to him for comfort and to hear his country sound

              Am                             Em
But the mayor thought he was trouble when he spoke against the law

       Am
And he saw the growing power of the crowds that he could draw

                                                          Em
And he worried when the Preacher bought himself a plot of land

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To settle with his family beside the Rio Grande

      Am                              Em
The saloon was pretty crowded and the stakes was a-running high

        Am                                Em
And the girls sang sentimental songs that made us cowboys cry

     Am                             Em
We began to criticise the Preacher, marrying a squaw

    Am
And how could he associate with cripples, drunks and whores

                                                            Em
And in a crazy fit the Preacher scattered chips and winning hands

    Am                              F            Am      Em  Am  G
And condemned it as a den of vice beside the Rio Grande

        Am                             Em
Now the boys were drunk and rowdy, and mostly pretty mean

       Am                                  Em
And we dragged him to the sidewalk and we whipped his shoulders clean

   Am                          Em
We said he was responsible for bringing on the drought

         Am
That had burned off all the spring grass and had wiped the young herd out

                                                          Em
The sheriff would not get involved, the law could take no hand

    Am                        F
The Preacher had not harmed a soul

   Am                                   Em
We pegged him on the hillside alongside two Apache braves

           Am                               Em
Who'd been given picks and shovels and been made to dig their graves

    Am                                 Em
And when he asked for water, stood and pissed around his feet

          Am
While his tongue swelled up and blackened in the burning desert heat

                                                      Em
And someone said we ought to mark the Preacher with a brand

    Am                           F            Am      Em  Am  G
To show that he did not belong beside the Rio Grande

         Am                                              Em
Then the sky began to darken and a breeze whipped up the dust

    Am                                Em
And some of us were frightened, while others swore and cursed

        Am                                 Em
And the Preacher said a few words with his final dying breath

         Am
About forgiving us for what we had done to bring about his death

                                                   Em
And as the night began to fall we covered him with sand

    Am                      F
And left his weary bones to bleach