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Across The Tallahatchie

from Old Souls by Bob Menzies

/

lyrics

Cross The Tallahatchie
Written by Bob Menzies, Sooke BC May 4, 2016 BPM 122 Key of D
Intro A7 G D D

VERSE 1
[D] The jukejoint was jumpin, the women all were sweatin
The men were getting drunker startin in to threatnin’
That [G7] boy was up there play’n like a mad dog in [D] heat
[A7] Women all were startin to sittin around his [D] feet
[G7] Henry Sturgill sat there lookin and a-tappin on his [D] knee
He could [A7] see that boy at the [G] bottom of the [D] Tallahatchie

[D] They heaved him in the back of that old pickup truck
There’s one sweet guitar picker run out of luck
He [G7] loved his moonshine but he loved his women [D] more
He [A7] loved that woman in the back of Shaples General [D] store
They didn’t [G7] love too quiet so everyone could [D] see
That’s how you [A7] end up on the [G] bottom of the [D] Tallahatchie
TAG – last 2 lines of verse

[D] The Mississippi night was hotter than hell, The Tallahatchie river was startin’ to swell
Bobby Joe and [G7] Gladys on the porch sittin in the [D] [breeze
Watchin [A7] longhorn beetles suckin’ on the [D] Sumac trees
This old [G7] Hercules truck come barreling from the [D] east
[A7] Stops on that old bridge cross the [D] Tallahatchie

[D]The moonlight is shining on two burly men
An old cotton sack between both of them
When they [G7] jumped off the truck that old bridge seemed to [D] heave
They had [A7] something to bring and something to [D] leave
[G7] Bobby Joe and his Gladys said there’s nothing here to [D] see
They closed the [A7] door on the moonlight shinin’ on the [D] Tallahatchie
SOLO – last 2 lines of verse
BRIDGE
Got to [G7] cross the Tallahatchie before [D] I die
Got to [A7] cross the Tallahatchie / Money’s on the other [D] side
Got to [G7] play another Juke Joint, make some women [D] cry
Got to [A7] cross the Tallahatchie [G] Before I [D] die

[D] Well nobody knows how that body was saved, And got to the churchyard and it’s final grave
[G7] Here lies a music man and the music just [D] died
With the [A7] man hellhounds chased every day of his [D] life
Now his [G7] body is buried underneath the old pecan [D] tree
Robert [A7] Leroy Johnson is sleepin near the [D] Tallahatchie

credits

from Old Souls, released December 25, 2016

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Bob Menzies Sooke, British Columbia

Bob Menzies is a Canadian folk-rock, alt-country singer-songwriter originally from Montreal and now living in Sooke, a small oceanside town on Vancouver Island’s south coast. He has recorded 5 albums of original music previously and his newest recording is the 2018 EP IN THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS. ... more

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