Tom Paxton – Beau John (Guitar)

                            G          D
Beau John was a king in his own native land,

                        A
He ruled for a thousand days,

         D                           G             D
Till the slave traders came and they locked him in irons,

                                       Bm
And they told him that he'd have to go away.

     D                  A           D
They told him that he'd have to go away.

                          G          D
Beau John got sick on the long ocean voyage.

                      A
All around him people died.

D                              G              D
They took his friends and they threw them overboard.

                               Bm
John hung down his head and he cried.

     D             A           D
John hung down his head and he cried.

                            G     D
They sold Beau John down in New Orleans,

                            A
To a man with a whip in his hand.

D                       G            D
He said farewell to his wife and his child,

                                   Bm
And they took him to a strange new land.

     D             A           D
They took him to a strange new land.

                          G  D
Beau John worked hard for 37 years.

                              A
He worked with a woman by his side.

D                        G            D
And on the morn that his last son was born,

                           Bm
Beau John laid down and he died.

D              A           D
Beau John laid down and he died.

                        G          D
His son grew up just as big as his dad.

                          A
They called him Beau John too.

        D                      G            D
And for one hundred years Beau John and his sons,

                                   Bm
Did just what the master made them do.

     D                 A                D
They did just what the master made them do.

                       G           D
Until one day when the cannon fire roared.

                                   A
The master's wife and children did flee.

     D                 G             D
Some men in blue coats rode into the yard,

                                    Bm
And they told Beau John that he was free.

     D         A                D
They told Beau John that he was free.

                              G        D
When the nightriders came for old Beau John,

                              A
Little Beau John hid behind a tree.

   D                        G                D
He saw what they did and he hit the northern trails,

                                       Bm
Saying, "Maybe up there they'll let me be.

D        A                    D
Maybe up there they'll let me be."

                                   G           D
But they pushed Beau John and they shoved him around,

                             A
Till he didn't know where to turn.

     D                           G          D
Some folks up in Harlem took him into their home,

                           Bm
And Beau John started into learn.

D         A            D
Beau John started into learn.

                             G         D
He fought for his country in World War One.

                            A
His son fought in World War Two.

         D                 G               D
And they learned no matter what price they paid,

                                                  Bm
There were certain things they weren't allowed to do.

           D                   A                  D
There were certain things they weren't allowed to do.

                          G          D
And then one night on the television screen,

                             A
He saw that Medgar Evers was dead.

D                       G           D
He took his wife in his arms in the night,

                                Bm
And these are the words that he said, Beau John,

D             A             D
These are the words that he said.

                                  G               D
"Well, they made me a slave and I worked in their fields.

                            A
They made me fight in their war.

D                     G            D
They kept me down for four hundred years.

                              Bm
But I ain't gonna take it any more.

      D           A           D
No, I ain't gonna take it any more."

                             G       D
His wife got a letter from a Georgia jail,

                       A
From a town called Albany,

         D                     G        D
Saying, "I am proud to be your own Beau John,

                                   Bm
And I ain't coming home till we're free.

    D              A               D
No, I ain't coming home till we're free."