Jim Henry - Blue Wing
CAPO: 2nd Fret
[Intro]
G
[Verse 1]
He had a blue wing tattooed on his shoulder
Am
Well, it might have been a blue bird, I don't know
But he'd get stone drunk and talk about Alaska
D G
The salmon boats and 45 below
[Verse 2]
G
He said he got that blue wing out in Walla Walla
Am
And his cellmate there was Little Willy John
And Willy, he was once a great blues singer
D G
And Wing and Willy wrote him up a song
[Chorus]
G C
They said it's dark in here, I can't see the sky
G D
But I look at this blue wing and I close my eyes
G C
And I fly away beyond these walls
G D
Up above the clouds where the rain don't fall
Em C D
On a poor man's dream
[Verse 3]
G
They paroled Blue Wing in August of 1963
Am
He moved north picking apples, to the town of Wenatchee
And then the winter finally caught him in a run down trailer park
G
On the south side of Seattle, where the days grow grey and dark
[Verse 4]
G
Well he drank and he dreamt of visions, when the salmon still ran free
Am
And his fathers' fathers crossed that wide and wild old Bering Sea
And the land belonged to everyone and there were old songs yet to sing
G
Now it's narrowed down to a cheap hotel and a tattooed prison wing
[Chorus]
G C
Hey, it's dark in here, I can't see the sky
G D
But I look at this blue wing and I close my eyes
G C
And I fly away beyond these walls
G D
Up above the clouds where the rain don't fall
Em C D
On a poor man's dream
[Verse 5]
G
Well, he drank his way to LA, and that's where he died
Am
And nobody knew his Christian name and there was no one there to cry
But I dreamt there was a funeral, a preacher and a cheap pine box
G
And halfway through the service, that blue wing began to talk
[Chorus]
G C
He said, it's dark in here, I can't see the sky
G D
But I look at this blue wing and I close my eyes
G C
And I fly away beyond these walls
G D
Up above the clouds where the rain don't fall
Em C D
On a poor man's dream
Em C D
On a poor man's dream
Em C D G
On a poor man's dream