You can capo it up if it's not in your singing range. You know what to do. Y'all seem relatively smart.
Just after the second to last chorus do a small picking pattern. Just listen to his, being Fred Small's,
recording and do a small thing. I like to pluck to A B D G. This is just the string order on a
completely open guitar. So think of it as the strings you pluck.
Put the chords over it, and you should be good!!
*= strum once
Heart of the Appaloosa
By Fred Small
[Verse 1]
G D G C
From the land of shooting waters to the peaks of the Coeur d'Alêne
D G D
Thimbleberries in the forest, elk grazing on the plain
G D G C
The People of the Coyote made their camp along the streams
C G C D G
Of the green Wallowa Valley when fences had no name
D C G
And they bred a strain of horses, the treasure of the tribe
D C D
Who could toe-dance on a ridge or gallop up a mountainside
G D C G
Who could haul the hunter's burden, turn a buffalo stampede
C G C D G
The horse that wore the spotted coat was born with matchless speed
[Chorus]
Bm D
C G
Thunder Rolling in the Mountains
C D D C
Lead the People across the Great Divide
G C G
There's blood on the snow in the hills of Idaho
C D G G C C Am Em D x2
But the heart of the Appaloosa never died
[Verse 2]
G D G C
In the winter came the crowned ones near frozen in the cold
D G D
Bringing firearms and spyglasses and a book that saves the soul
G D G C
The people gave them welcome, nursed them till their strength returned
C G C D G
And studied the talking paper, its mysteries to learn
D C G
In the shadow of the mission sprang up farms and squatter towns
D C D
The plain was lined with fences, the plow blade split the ground
D G C G
In the shallows of the Clearwater gold glittered in the pan
C G C D G
And the word would come from Washington: remove the Indian
[Chorus]
Bm D
C G
Thunder Rolling in the Mountains
C D D C
Lead the People across the Great Divide
G C G
There's blood on the snow in the hills of Idaho
C D G G C C Am Em D
But the heart of the Appaloosa never died
[Verse 3]
G D G C
The chief spoke to the People in his anger and his pain
D G D
"I am no more Chief Joseph. Rolling Thunder is my name.
G D G C
They condemn us to a wasteland of barren soil and stone
C G C D G
We shall fight them if we must, but we will find another home."
D C G
They fled into the Bitterroot, an army at their heels
D C D
They fought at White Bird Canyon, they fought at Misery Hill
D G C G
Till the colonel saw his strategy and sent the order down
C G C D G
To kill the Appaloosa wherever it be found
[Chorus]
Bm D
C G
Thunder Rolling in the Mountains
C D D C
Lead the People across the Great Divide
G C G
There's blood on the snow in the hills of Idaho
C D G G C C Am Em D
But the heart of the Appaloosa never died
[Verse 4]
G D G C
Twelve hundred miles retreating, three times over the Divide
D G D
The horse their only safety, their only ally
G D G C
Three thousand Appaloosa perished with the tribe
C G C D G
The people and the horses died side by side
D C G
Thunder Rolling in the Mountains said, "my heart is sick and sad.
D C D
Our children now are freezing. The old chiefs are dead.
D G C G
The hunger take our spirit. Our wounds are deep and sore.
C G C D G
From where the sun now stands I shall fight no more."
[Chorus]
Bm D
C G
Thunder Rolling in the Mountains
C D D C
Lead the People across the Great Divide
G C G
There's blood on the snow in the hills of Idaho
C D G G C C Am Em D
But the heart of the Appaloosa never died
[Break Strain]
G D G C
They were sent to Oklahoma, malaria ran rife
D G D
But more died of broken hearts far from the land that gave them life
G D G C
And the man once called Joseph at death was heard to say
C G C D G
"We have given up our horses. They have gone away."
D* C G
But sometimes without warning from a dull domestic herd
D* C D
A spotted horse of spirit wondrous will emerge
D* G C G
Strong it is and fearless and nimble on a hill
C* G* C D G
Listening for thunder, the Appaloosa's living still
[Chorus]
Bm D
C G
Thunder Rolling in the Mountains
C D D C
Lead the People across the Great Divide
G C G
There's blood on the snow in the hills of Idaho
C D G G C C Am Em D
But the heart of the Appaloosa never died