The Droving Woman (live) chords

Paul Kelly

Key: 

Simplify chords 

Capo: 6st fret

  			

 
 



Intro: 
|C  Am  G|C  Am  G|C  Am  G|C  G  F| 


verse 1: 
      C              Am          G 
Well, she buried him down on the edge of the town, 
      C            Am              G 
Where the brigalow suckers, on the cemetery creep. 
    C          Am                 G 
She stood with them children in a heavy brown gown, 
         C             G            F 
What you want you just can't always keep. 


verse 2: 
      C           Am       G 
"Well I'm sorry", I said, "I knew him so well", 
       C                        G 
Though your body is young, well you never can tell. 
     Em          C           Am           G 
When the hand of fate brings it's fateful death knell", 
         C               G            F 
She just turned with the slightest of smiles. 


verse 3: 
    C              Am            G 
She said "From the start well we knewed it so hard, 
   C           Am         G 
We were always handed the severest of cards. 
C           Am            G 
A honeymoon spent droving Jamieson's stock, 
C                   G             F 
Through the wildest winter you've seen. 


verse 4: 
       C        Am         G 
And my Romantic notions of horses and land, 
          C        Am          G 
They were soon dis-pelled as a fantasised dream. 
         C         Am           G 
Watching cattle at night in the mid-winter cold, 
        C            G        F 
Turns a person, both wiry and old. 


Verse 5: 
     C                Am             G 
Well the flame of the breakfast fire'd be dead, 
   C            Am           G 
As the sun rose up, well you move up ahead. 
       C            Am          G 
I'd be breaking the camp up and rolling the beds, 
       C          G               F 
As you fanned the stock wider for feed. 


Verse 6: 
         C              Am            G 
When the weather turned sour with the onset of rain, 
        C              Am          G 
An' the truck'd bogged down to the axle main. 
     C       Am              G 
We'd move up ahead then with pack saddles and chains, 
    C               G          F 
And I'd wait in the mud by the road. 


Verse 7: 
         C            Am             G 
With the blankets and the canvas all hung out to dry, 
        C           Am                 G 
There's nothing for heating 'cause you couldn't light a fire. 
    C        Am             G 
And no stock permit for the forthcoming shire. 
    C               G           F 
(No lyric line) 


Verse 8: 
    C                Am                 G 
For the cattle don't camp where they're sloshing in rain, 
     C            Am                       G 
They keep walking forward all night like a dog on a chain. 
    C                    Am           G 
And he'd be red eyed and weary with a pack horse turned lame, 
        C          G             F 
And I'd wait miles behind in the mud. 


Instrumental Solo 1: (Violin over) 
|C  Am  G |C  Am  G|C  Am  G|C  G  F| 


Verse 9: 
       C            Am                G 
It was down through Charleville up to Julia Creek, 
          C         Am         G 
Living on syrup and damper and salted corn meat. 
       C                Am           G 
We had nothing but the 'roos and the mailman to meet, 
     C           G             F 
We'd move up and down with the rains. 


verse 10: 
    C           Am             G 
But them inland skies have the starriest of nights, 
         C            Am            G 
With the dance of the fire throwing flickering lights. 
    C              Am             G 
The beauty of it's sunsets were a constant delight, 
       C           G          F 
I felt that nature had let me intrude. 


verse 11: 
    C        Am               G 
The enormous vastness of them inland plains, 
       C            Am                       G 
Brings you a lonely contentment to which you can't put a name. 
     C                Am         G 
It's a satisfied glow city folks seldom attain, 
     C                     G           F 
They spend their life on a right rigid rail. 


verse 12: 
    C              Am                 G 
The kids got their schooling from the government mail, 
   C            Am               G 
We posted their work off at each cattle sale. 
C               Am                G 
They considered their learning, a self imposed jail, 
       C           G                F 
They'd rather help their father and fail. 


Instrumental Solo 2: (Violin over) 
|C  Am  G|C Am  G|C  Am  G|C  G  F| 


verse 13: 
      C                 Am         G 
Early last month at the end of the dry, 
       C       Am       G 
He was given a horse no-body could ride. 
C              Am          G 
Alert were his ears with a fire in his stride, 
       C             G          F 
He was young and his spirit was wild. 


verse 14: 
   C              Am             G 
To catch him each morning was an hour long battle, 
          C               Am           G 
We had to collar rope his near side to throw on the saddle. 
        C        Am              G 
Or he'd bite and he'd strike, he made my nerves rattle, 
      C      G                 F 
Pande-monium reigned with each ride. 


verse 15: 
         C            Am             G 
It was a hot summers' mornin' at the government bore, 
            C                Am              G 
There was a stillness around like I've never felt before. 
             C       Am              G 
How could he know it was fate at his door, 
         C          G            F 
That was stealthily watchin' his moves. 


verse 16: 
   C          Am           G 
He mounted up quick taking slack from the reins, 
        C              Am            G 
Grabbed a full hand of hair from the horse's long mane. 
     C                   Am             G 
He'd just hit the saddle when the horse went insane, 
         C         G         F 
Churning dust in a frenzy of fear. 


verse 17: 
    C                   Am            G 
The girth on the saddle let go at the ring, 
    C                 Am                G 
The surcingle slipped it was impossible to cling. 
               C            Am        G 
The horse felt it go made a desperate fling, 
       C             G             F 
He was thrown to the length of the reins. 


verse 18: 
    C                 Am               G 
And I heard his spine snap like a 'roo shooters' shot, 
     C          Am          G 
He'd busted his back on the concreted trough. 
C                 Am                G 
Sickness and fear were the feelings I got, 
        C            G        F 
For the doctor was a six hour drive. 


verse 19: 
    C               Am                  G 
And I looked at his face and his colour turned white, 
          C                Am              G 
He turned slowly and said "I can't make it till night. 
C                  Am           G 
My body is broken, I'm bleedin' inside", 
        C           G            F 
And the life slowly drained from his eyes. 


Instrumental Solo 3: (Violin over) 
|C  Am  G |C  Am  G|C  Am  G|C  G  F| 
|C  Am  G |C  Am  G|C  Am  G|C  G  F| 


verse 20: 
            C                     Am            G 
'Guess I'll sell up the plant now and move back to town, 
           C              Am           G 
Before the winter returns with a chill on the ground. 
C                  Am                 G 
'Cause what I have lost can seldom be found, 
      C            G               F 
I was blessed with the gentlest of men. 


verse 21: 
           C                 Am          G 
Eventually the children will move to the east, 
               C                Am                   G 
But I couldn't stand the bustle of even a quiet city street. 
C                Am                        G 
I'll stay in the scrub here where my heart really beats, 
    C             G          F 
For some dogs are too old to change. 

End