Texas 19

#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE--------------------------------#
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the#
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research.#
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#

Date: Sat, 25 Apr 1998 15:32:41 -0700 (PDT)
From: "T. Hickson" 

 
Subject: c/clark_guy/texas_1947.crd

Song:  Texas 1947
Artist:  Guy Clark
Transcribed by:  T. Hickson

>From the album "Keepers" (track 2), a live album.  I'm probably missing a
lot of the subtleties, but it's a nice, easy way to play it.  Guy makes
the verses build as if a train is approaching and passing you by, but you
gotta hear it to make it work.


___________________________________________________________


 Em
Now bein' six years old
    
 G
I'd seen some trains before,
        
 A
so it's hard to figure out
         
 B            
 Em
what I'm at the depot for.



 Em
Trains are big and black and smokin' steam,

 G
screamin' at the wheels,

 A
bigger than anything there is,
         
 B                  
 Em
at least that's the way she feels


           
 B
Trains are big and black and smokin',

louder than July four,
    
 A
but everybody's actin' like
     
 B                  
 Em
this might be somethin' more...



 Em
...than just pickin' up the mail
       
 G
or the soldiers from the war,
        
 A
this is somethin' that even old man Wileman (?)

 B             
 Em
never seen before.

BRIDGE:
         
 F#m
And it's late afternoon

on a hot Texas day,
                     
 A
somethin' strange is goin' on
         
 B          
 Em
and we's all in the way.



 Em
Well there's fifty or sixty people
          
 G
they're just sittin' on their cars,
        
 A
and the old men left their dominoes
         
 B                  
 Em
and they come down from the bars.



 Em
Everybody's checkin',
         
 G
old Jack Kittrel(?) checked his watch,
       
 A
and us kids put our ears
       
 B                 
 Em
to the rails to hear 'em pop.


   
 B
So we already knowed

when they finally said 'train time'
        
 A
you'd a-thought that Jesus Christ himself
    
 B                
 Em
was rollin' down the line.



 Em
Cuz things got real quiet,

 G
Momma jerked me back,

 A
not before I'd got the chance
         
 B             
 Em
to lay a nickel on the track.


CHORUS:


 E
Look out here she comes, she's comin',

 A
Look out there she goes, she's gone,

 B
screamin' straight through Texas
       
 A         
 E
like a mad dog cyclone.

 B
Big, red, and silver,

she don't make no smoke,
        
 A
she's a fast-rollin' streamline

 B                
 E
come to show the folks.

 E
Look out here she comes, she's comin'

 A
Look out there she goes, she's gone,

 B
screamin' straight through Texas
       
 A         
 E
like a mad dog cyclone.


 Em
...Lord, she never even stopped.


 Em
She left fifty or sixty people
      
 G
still sittin' on their cars,
            
 A
and they're wonderin' what it's comin' to
    
 B               
 Em
and how it got this far.



 Em
Oh but me I got a nickel smashed

 G
flatter than a dime
     
 A
by a mad dog, runaway
    
 B             
 Em
red-silver streamline...train


CHORUS:

___________________________________________________________

CHORDS ONLY, BY VERSE:

V1:


 Em  
 G  
 A  
 B  
 Em

V2:


 Em  
 G  
 A  
 B  
 Em


V3:

 B  
 A  
 B  
 Em

V4:

 Em  
 G  
 A  
 B  
 Em

Bridge:


 F#m  
 A  
 B  
 Em

V5:

 Em  
 G  
 A  
 B  
 Em

V6:

 Em  
 G  
 A  
 B  
 Em

V7:

 B  
 A  
 B  
 Em

V8:

 Em  
 G  
 A  
 B  
 Em

CHORUS:


 E  
 A  
 B  
 A  
 E


 B  
 A  
 B  
 E


 E  
 A  
 B  
 A  
 E


 Em

V9:

 Em  
 G  
 A  
 B  
 Em

V10:


 Em  
 G  
 A  
 B  
 Em

CHORUS:


 E  
 A  
 B  
 A  
 E


 B  
 A  
 B  
 E


 E  
 A  
 B  
 A  
 E