Townes Van Zandt – Illegal Cargo (Guitar)
Capo 2
Key
-
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Speed:
1.0x
Chords
As recorded by Townes Van Zandt
(1977 recording from the 2024 Album CAN'T STEAL MY FIRE: THE SONGS OF DAVID OLNEY)
[Intro]
G
[Verse 1]
G In the cool early hours before dawn, in one hour I must be gone C G The airplane is waiting all loaded with Illegal Cargo G I'll count the minutes until I return here tomorrow D G So keep a light burning for a heart that is yearning for the peace that you alone can bring
[Verse 2]
C D G Open your eyes Jacinta it's time we were waking C D Em D I promise this is the last run that I will be making D When the landing is made and the payoff is paid G We can begin our new life
[Verse 3]
G Well, my father he tilled the soil, and all of his days spent in toil C G When we laid him away I vowed I would not die a poor man C G I got a Gringo named Hartley to teach me to fly his airplane D G And together we smuggled Illegal Cargo 'cross the border to the U.S. of A.
[Verse 4]
C D G Hartley's in jail leaving his airplane behind C D Em D Now I alone fly through the mountains where their radar is blind D Then I touch down in a West Texas town G And the final connection were made
[Verse 5]
G Some fly for the danger that's there, some fly because they just do not care C G I fly for the dollars the rich Yankee Gringos will pay me C G To start a new life with my young wife, Jacinta beside me D G If the law must be broken it's the way I have chosen its' simply a risk I must take
[Verse 6]
C D G Call me a fool, call me a smuggler and worse C D Em D Call me what you will as long as you open your purse D For the sweet smelling weed you all seem to need G Cocaine if you can afford it