Blind
Willie McTell
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1. Seen the arrow on the doorpost, saying this land is condemned,
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all the way from New
Orleans to Jerusalem.
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Dm
I travelled to East Texas, where many martyrs fell,
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- Bb - C Dm
and I know no one can
sing the blues like Blind
Willie McTell.
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2. Well, I heard that hooter singing as they were taking down the tents,
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the stars above the
barren trees were his only audience.
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A Dm
Them charcoal gypsy
maidens can strut their feathers well,
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but
nobody can sing the blues
like Blind Willie McTell.
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3. See them big plantations burning, hear the
cracking of the whips,
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smell that sweet
magnolia blooming, see the ghosts
of slavery ships.
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I can hear them
tribes a moaning, hear that undertaker's bell
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- G - Bb C Dm
nobody can sing the blues
like Blind Willie McTell.
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A
Dm
4. There's a woman by the river with some fine young handsome man,
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Bb C Dm
he's dressed up like
a squire, bootleg
whiskey in his hand.
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There's a chain gang on a highway, I can hear them rebels yell,
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but I know no one can sing the blues
like Blind Willie McTell.
+
instrumental = verse 4, lines 1 & 2
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5. Well, God is in his Heaven and we are what was His,
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but power, greed and
corruptable seed seem to be all that there is.
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I'm gazing out the
window of the St. James Hotel,
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Dm
and
I know no one can sing the
blues like Blind Willie McTell.
+ instrumental = verse 5
(orig. = capo 1st) (Bob Dylan)