Tom Waits – 16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six (Guitar)

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from the album Swordfishtrombones (1983) Basic 12-bar blues style song. For simplicity, transpose down to Am and capo on the 4th fret. The basic riff alternates between C#m7 and C#m, listen to the recording for timing. [Intro] C#m7 C#m [Verse 1]

          C#m                              C#m7  C#m
I plugged 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six

        C#m                                    C#m7  C#m
And the Black Crow snuck through a hole in the sky

     F#                                    F#7  F#
So I spent all my buttons on an old pack mule

          C#m                                     C#m7  C#m
Oh, and I made me a ladder from a pawn shop marimba

       G#7
And I leaned it up against a dandelion tree

F#
Leaned it up against a dandelion tree

C#m                                   C#m7  C#m
Leaned it up against a dandelion tree

[Verse 2]

          C#m                                  C#m7  C#m
I'm gonna cook them feathers on a tire iron spit

      C#m                                    C#m7  C#m
And I filled me a satchel full of old pig corn

      F#                                   F#7  F#
And I beat me a billy from an old French horn

          C#m
Oh, and I kicked that mule to the top of the tree

C#m7
Kicked that mule to the top of the tree

      G#7                                        F#
And I blew me a hole 'bout the size of a kickdrum

      C#m                                   C#m7  C#m
And I cut me a switch from a long branch elbow

[Chorus]

          C#m
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'

C#m7         C#m
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six

C#m
Whittle you into kindlin'

C#m7        C#m
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six

[Verse 3]

        C#m                                 C#m7  C#m
Well, I slept in the holler of a dry creek bed

      C#m                                    C#m7
And I tore out the bucket from a red Corvette

C#m
Tore out the bucket from a red Corvette

F#                                      F#7  F#
Lionel and Dave and the Butcher made three

               C#m                                         C#m7 C#m
Oh, you got to meet me by the knuckles of the skinnybone tree

         G#7                                                F#7
With the strings of a Washburn stretched like a clothes line

             C#m                                             C#m7
Oh, you know me and that mule scrambled right through the hole

C#m                                                C#m7
Me and that mule scrambled right through the hole

[Chorus]

          C#m
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'

C#m7         C#m
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six

C#m
Whittle you into kindlin'

C#m7        C#m
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six

[Verse 4]

      C#m                                C#m7  C#m
Now I hold him prisoner in a Washburn jail

       C#m                                    C#m7
That I strapped on the back of my old kick mule

C#m
Strapped on the back of my old kick mule

  F#                                       F#7  F
I bang on the strings just to drive him crazy

      C#m                            C#m7
Oh, I strum it loud to rattle his cage

  C#m
I strum it loud just to rattle his cage

G#7
Strum it loud just to rattle his cage

F#7
Strum it loud just to rattle his cage

[Chorus]

          C#m
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'

C#m7         C#m
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six

C#m
Whittle you into kindlin'

C#m7        C#m
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six