Tom Russell - Alkali
[Intro]
C
[Verse 1]
Dm
Alkali, here's mud in your eye
F G C Dm G
You've been lost in the desert twenty-five years or more
C Dm
All your whiskey streams and your goldfield dreams
F G C
Well, Lady Luck won't let you dark her door
[Verse 2]
Am Em
And they tell me you're a ghost of a man
F G C
Lord, I believe it's true
Am Em
And they say you had a woman once
D G
But she turned her back on you
[Chorus]
Dm
You old gold mining hobo
F G C
Dry-well, desert rat, Alkali
[Verse 3]
Dm
Put the bacon on to fry
F G C Dm G
Well, the sun's coming up and the mule's waiting for his grain
C Dm
Just a one room shack, out by the Santa Fe tracks
F G C
It’s an old lick of earth that's screaming for a drop of rain
[Verse 4]
Am Em
And there's a time for work and a time for play
F G C
And a time for lying down
Am Em
And the road might lead to the rainbow's end
D G
A dusty old desert town
[Chorus]
Dm
You old gold mining hobo
F G C
Dry-well, desert rat, Alkali
[Instrumental]
Dm F G C Dm G
[Verse 5]
C Dm
Alkali, there's a buzzard in the sky
F G C Dm G
And he’s a-counting his chances on a-picking your skinflint bones
C Dm
Ah, raise your hand and throw a curse on the land
F G C
They're gonna find you one day, lying 'neath an unmarked stone
[Verse 6]
Am Em
Well, the desert is a lonely place
F G C
For a man to lose his head
Am Em
They tell me when you start to talking to yourself
D G
Lord, you might as well be dead
[Chorus]
Dm
You old gold mining hobo
F G C
Dry-well, desert rat, Alkali
[Chorus]
Am Em
Alkali, Alkali
F
You old gold-mining hobo
G C
Dry-well, desert rat, Alkali
[Chorus]
Am Em
Alkali, Alkali
F
You old gold-mining hobo
G C
Dry-well, desert rat, Alkali