Jesse James

traditional

Key: G

It was on a Friday night the moon was shining bright

They robbed the Glendale train

And people all did say, from many miles away

It was those outlaws Frank and Jesse James

It was Robert Ford that dirty little coward

I wonder how he does feel

For he ate of Jesse's bread and slept in Jesse's bed

and he laid Jesse James in his grave

He was standing on a chair just dustin' a picture there

Thought that he heard a noise

He turned his head around and the bullet smashed him down

and they laid poor Jesse on the floor

John Henry

traditional

Key: E

The captain said to John Henry,

I'm gonna bring that steam drill round.

I'm gonna bring that steam drill round on this job

and work that steel on down, down, down, (x2)

John Henry said to his captain,

You can bring that old steam drill round.

You can bring that steam drill round on this job

and I'll beat your steam drill down, down, down (x2)

John Henry said to his shaker,

Shaker, you had better pray.

If you miss your six feet of steel

tomorrow be your burying day, day, day (x2)

The shaker said to John Henry,

A man ain't nothing but a man.

Before you let that steam drill beat you down

you'd better die with your hammer in your hand, Lord, Lord (x2)

John Henry said to his shaker,

Shaker, now why don't you sing?

I'm swinging nine pounds from the shoulders on down,

listen to my cold steel ring, ring ring (x2)

John Henry and the steam drill

took to driving steel and throwing sand

and John Henry beat that steam drill three inches down

but he died with hammer in his hand, Lord, Lord (X2)

They took John Henry to the graveyard

laid him down in the sand.

And every locomotive that comes a'rustling by

hollers, yonder lies a steel driving man, man, man (X2)

Little Girl & Dreadful Snake

traditional

Key: G

No chord chart available.

Long Black Veil

traditional

Key: C

There were few at the scene, but they all agreed

The judge said "Son, what is your alibi?

If you were somewhere else, then you won't have to die."

Well, I said not a word, though it meant my life

For I'd been in the arms of my best friends wife.

The scaffold was high, and eternity neared

She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear.

But sometimes at night, when the cold wind blows

In a long black veil, she cries over my bones.

Miss Ferris

John Hartford

Key: D

She had log-books and bells and the things like that,

And she knew the old captains and where they were at.

She rode the Alabama and the Gordon C. Green,

As the Cape Girardeau, she was later renamed, Uh-huh.

Well, now, fast people in St. Louis society

A-takin' a trip on the Mississippi

Sleepin' in their bunks after an after-dinner drink

They didn't think the boat would sink. Oh, no!

Well, I know Captain Buck was a very sad man

When that old wooden hull went into the sand

And Miss Ferris was sad for sure

But immediately, her mind went to work. Oh, yeah!

I had to work real hard to get my school work done

Cause you could not fool Miss Ferris none;

And, if I went to sleep or I were not supposed to talk

Oh, she was a dead shot with a little piece of chalk. Uh-huh!{soc}

Oh me, oh my, how the time does fly.

Time and the river keep a-rollin' on by.

Now, I am not a student and she is not a teacher

But, we both still love the Mississippi River. Uh, huh.