Intro:
Asus2 (arpeggiated down and up)
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2|
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2|
verse 1:
D Am C G Am
There were three men came out of the west,
D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2
Their fortunes for to try.
D Am C G Am-Asus2-Am
And these three men made a solemn oath,
D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2
John Barleycorn must die.
C G Am
They've ploughed, they've sewn, they've harrowed him in,
C D Esus4-E
Threw clods upon his head.
Dm Am C G Am-Asus2-Am
And these three men made a solemn oath,
D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2
John Barleycorn was dead.
Instrumental 1:
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2
verse 2:
D Am C G Am
They've let him lie for a very long time,
D C G Am-Asus2-Am
Till the rains from heaven did fall.
D Am C G Am-Asus2-Am
And little Sir John sprung up his head,
D C G Am-Asus2-Am
and so amazed them all.
C G Am
They've let him stand till Midsummer's Day,
C D Esus4-E
Till he looked both pale and wan.
Dm Am C G Am-Asus2-Am
And these three men made a solemn oath,
D C G Am-Asus2-Am
On poor John Barleycorn.
Instrumental 2:
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2|
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2|
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2|
verse 3:
D Am C G Am
They've hired men with the scythes so sharp,
D C G Am-Asus2-Am
To cut him off at the knee.
D Am C G Am-Asus2-Am
They've rolled him and tied him by the waist,
D C G Am-Asus2-Am
Serving him most barbarously.
C G Am
They've hired men with the sharp pitchforks,
C D Esus4-E
Who pricked him to the heart.
Dm Am C G Am-Asus2-Am
And the loader he has served him worse than that,
D C G Am-Asus2-Am
For he's bound him to the cart.
Instrumental 3:
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2|
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2|
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2|
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2|
verse 4:
D Am C G Am
They've wheeled him around and around the field,
D C G Am-Asus2-Am
Till they came unto a barn.
D Am C G Am-Asus2-Am
And there they made a solemn oath,
D C G Am-Asus2-Am
On poor John Barleycorn.
C G Am
They've hired men with the crab-tree sticks,
C D Esus4-E
To cut him skin from bone.
Dm Am C G Am-Asus2-Am
And the miller he has served him worse than that,
D C G Am-Asus2-Am
For he's ground him between two stones.
Instrumental 4:
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2|
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2|
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2|(Mmm-oooh)
|D C G Am-Asus2 Am-Asus2|(Who-oooh)
VERSE 5:
D Am C G Am
And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl,
C D Esus4-E
And heâ??s brandy in the glass.
D Am C G Am-Asus2-Am
And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl,
D C G Am-Asus2-Am
Proved the strongest man at last.
C G Am
The huntsman, he can't hunt the fox,
C D Esus4-E
Nor so loudly to blow his horn.
Dm Am C G Am-Asus2-Am
And the tinker he can't mend kettle nor pots,
D C G Am (Slowed tempo, arpeggio and fade, on last line)
Without a little Barleycorn.