A Toast To Those Who Are Gone

pre>e g#m
Sometime's i feel that the world isn't mine
C#m f b
It feeds on my hunger and tears on my time
E
And i'm tired,
C#m
Yes, i'm tired
E g#m
Every face on the street is as cold the air
C#m f b
As hard as the pavement moves 'neath my feet
E
And i'm tired,
C#m
Yes, i'm tired

C#m b
Sometimes i stop and ask to myself
C#m b c#m
Oh why should i be so alone
C#m
It comes and it goes
B
And nobody knows
C#m b c#m
For they're blind with a pain all their own
E g#m
So i start out again with a smile on my face
C#m f b
To hide all the empty and search for a friend
E
And i'm tired
C#m
Yes, i'm tired
C#m b
Sometimes i stop and ask to myself
C#m b c#m
Oh why should i be so alone
C#m
It comes and it goes
B
And nobody knows
C#m b c#m
For they're blind with a pain all their own
E g#m
So i start out again with a smile on my face
C#m f b
To hide all the empty and search for a friend
E
And i'm tired
C#m
Yes, i'm tired
E
And i'm tired
C#m
Yes, i'm tired

/pre>

The wild geese are dancing in the ripples of the morn
My wanderlust is formed
I've got to follow them wherever they may lead
For i am just a sailor on a ship across the land
Let me hold your hand
To bid farewell so i can knuckle to my knees
But i'll be back again no matter where i go
For it's only love that frees the fire for burning
Then i'll take you in my arms and tell you all i know
As i sing the early song of my returning

The weary world is waiting for ambition to be played
Now young and not afraid
I've got to challenge every chalice that i know
My eager ears are listening for the singing of the sign
Deeper are the lines
Upon the face that finds reflections in the road
Yes, i'll be back again no matter where i go
For it's only love that frees the fire for burning
Then i'll take you in my arms and tell you all i know
As i sing the changing song of my returning

My drifting days prepare me to do battle with the night
A phantom of the fight
I've got conquer all the courage of my fears
The answer lies in limbo(?) and the harvest will be hard
But sacred are the scars
That leave their mark on the fast disolving years
Yes, i'll be back again no matter where i go
For it's only love that frees the fire for burning
Then i'll take you in my arms and tell you all i know
As i sing the growing song of my returning

Time must have her victory
It's that i've always known
But i won or lost alone
And when a voice calls out "there's someone you must meet"
With every strength remaining
I will suffer one more scene
I'll gather all my dreams
And with my final breath
I'll lay them at your feet.
Yes, i'll be back again no matter where i go
For it's only love that frees the fire for burning
Then i'll take you in my arms and tell you all i know
As i sing the final song of my returning

Outside the cats are scratching
Inside the doors are latching
On the room, the greedy gloom
The trial is revealed
Police are six feet deep
With switchblades in their teeth
So no one leaves and they all believe
This is absolutely real
Yes, it's real
And the sergeant says, "are you ready, boys?
Get ready, boys
Aim...
And fire...

Order in the court
People ready for the sport
They squirm and squeak and lick their beaks
And grease their feathers down
Everybody rise
Judge is here with bathroom eyes
A grizzly bear, he hugs his chair
And the greedy gavel pounds
Yes, it pounds
And the sergeant says, "are you ready, boys?
Get ready, boys
Aim...
And fire...

In the dungeon s(?) falls
Writing appeals upon the wall
And the priest in prayers is not even there
So precious is his time
To the stake he's tied
The swallows sing the triggers slide
He bids goodbye to the wattery sky that plunges from his mind
From his mind
And the sergeant says, "are you ready, boys?
Get ready, boys
Aim...
And fire...

pre>g
Billie sol was a man
C g
From the giant texas land
D7
He put the chamber of commerce on a limb
G
They voted him the best
C g
And the government did no less
D7 g
Until the i.o.u.'s of texas fell on him
C g
Stand tall, billie sol, we don't know you at all
D7
We've taken down your pictures from the wall
G c
Well, we don't want to handle an agriculture scandal
G d7 g
We have got to face elections in the fall

I remember when
Bill had influential friends
He celebrated christmas every day
He filled texas banks with his fertilizer tanks
Influential friends don't die they only fade away
Stand tall, billie sol, we don't know you at all
We've taken down your pictures from the wall
Well, we don't want to handle an agriculture scandal
We have got to face elections in the fall

The democrats deny
And orville freeman sighs
He said "everyone around was fair and square"
But he was no more convincing
Than ezra taft benson
As resignations cropped up everywhere
Stand tall, billie sol, we don't know you at all
We've taken down your pictures from the wall
Well, we don't want to handle an agriculture scandal
We have got to face elections in the fall

And now i'd like to say
That crime sure doesn't pay
But if you want to make some money on the sly
Well you can always rent
The u.s. government
It's the best one that money can buy.
Stand tall, billie sol
We don't know you at all
We've take down your pictures from the wall
Well, we don't want to handle
And agriculture scandal
We have got to face elections in the fall

/pre>

pre>g c
Christmas shoppers shopping on a neon city street
D c g
Another christmas dollar for another christmas treat
G c
There's satin on the pretty dolls that make the children glow
D c g
While a boy walking ragged in the cold kentucky snow
G c g
No, they don't have christmas in kentucky
C d
There's no holly on a west virginia door
G c g
For the trees don't twinkle when you're hungry
C d g
And the jingle bells don't jingle when you're poor

There's lots of toys for children when then christmas time is near
But the present for the miners is a stocking full of beer
In the dark hills of kentucky there's one gift that may be found
The coal dust of forgotten days that's lying on the ground
No, they don't have christmas in kentucky
There's no holly on a west virginia door
For the trees don't twinkle when you're hungry
And the jingle bells don't jingle when you're poor

Let's drink a toast to congress and a toast to santa claus
And a toast to all the speeches that bring the loud applause
There's not enough to give, no, there's not enough to share
So let's drown the sounds of sorrow with a hearty christmas cheer
No, they don't have christmas in kentucky
There's no holly on a west virginia door
For the trees don't twinkle when you're hungry
And the jingle bells don't jingle when you're poor

Have a merry, merry christmas and a happy new year's day
For now's a time of plenty, and plenty's here to stay
But if you knew what christmas was, i think that you would find
That christ is spending christmas in the cold kentucky mine
No, they don't have christmas in kentucky
There's no holly on a west virginia door
For the trees don't twinkle when you're hungry
And the jingle bells don't jingle when you're poor

/pre>

pre>am
Walkin' down an alabama road
Rememberin' what the bible told
D g d am
Walkin' with a letter in his hand
D g d am
Dreaming of another southern land
Am
Walkin' down an alabama road

And he went by the name of william moore
Now what are you doing william moore
D g am
Why the letter in your hand?
D g am
There's only one southern land
And he went by the name of william moore

Am em am
What price the glory of one man?
C f
What price the glory of one man?
C em
What price the hopes,
F g
What price the dreams,
C f g c
And what price the glory of one man?

Remembering what his grandfather done
Fought for the south in '61
A hundred years have passed by since then
Now moore is fighting for the south again
Remembering what his grandfather done

Remembering the time in world war two
And the south pacific island that he knew
Remembering the young men that he killed
And the praying that the guns of hate be stilled
Remembering the time in world war two

What price the glory of one man?
What price the glory of one man?
What price the hopes,
What price the dreams,
And what price the glory of one man?

And they shot him on the alabama road
Forgot about what the bible told
They shot him with that letter in his hand
As though he were a dog and not a man
And they shot him on the alabama road

Did you say it was a shame when he died?
Did you say he was fool because he tried?
Did you wonder who had fired the gun?
Did you know that it was you who fired the gun?
Did you say it was a shame when he died?

What price the glory of one man?
What price the glory of one man?
What price the hopes,
What price the dreams,
And what price the glory of one man?

/pre>

I'm going down to mississipi
I'm going down a southern road
And if you never see me again
Remember that i had to go
Remember that i had to go

It's a long road down to mississipi
It's a short road back the other way
If the cops pull you over to the side of the road
You won't have nothing to say
No, you won't have nothing to say

There's a man waiting down in mississippi
And he's waiting with a rifle in his hand
And he's looking down the road for an out-of-state car
And he thinks he's fighting for his land
Yes, he thinks he's fighting for his land

And he won't know the clothes i'm wearing
And he doesn't know the name that i own
But his gun is large and his hate is hard
And he knows i'm coming down the road
Yes, he knows i'm coming down the road

It's not for the glory that i'm leaving
It's not trouble that i'm looking for
But there's lots of good work calling me down
And the waiting won't do no more
No, the waiting won't do no more

Don't call me the brave one for going
No, don't pin a medal to my name
For even if there was any choice to make
I'd be going down just the same
I'd be going down just the same

For someone's got to go to mississipi
Just as sure as there's a right and there's a wrong
Even though you say the time will change
That time is just too long
That time is just too long

So i'm going down to mississipi
I'm going down a southern road
And if you never see me again
Remember that i had to go
Remember that i had to go

pre>c am
Many's the hour i've lain by my window
C am
And thought of the people who carried the burden
C am
Who marched in the strange fields in search of an answers
C am g
And ended their journeys an unwilling hero

Am em am g
Here's a song to those who are gone with never a reason why
Em am
And a toast of the wine at the end of the line
D7 g
And a toll of the bell for the next one to die

Back in the coal fields of old harlan county
Some talked of the union, some talked of good wages
And they lined them up in the dark of the forests
And shot them down without asking no questions

Here's a song to those who are gone with never a reason why
And a toast of the wine to the end of the line
And a toll of the bell for the next one to die

And over the ocean, to the red spanish soil
Came the lincoln brigade with their dreams
But they fell in the fire of germany's bombing
And they fell 'cause no one would hear their sad warning

Here's a song to those who are gone with never a reason why
And a toast of the wine at the end of the line
And a toll of the bell for the next one to die

In old alabama, in old mississippi
Two states of the union so often found guilty
They came on the busses, they came on the marches
And they lay in the jails or they fell by the highway

Here's a song to those who are gone with never a reason why
And a toast of the wine at the end of the line
And a toll of the bell for the next one to die

The state it was texas, the town it was dallas
In the flash of a rifle a life was soon over
And nobody thought of the past million murders
And the long list of irony(?) had found a new champion

Here's a song to those who are gone with never a reason why
And a toast of the wine at the end of the line
And a toll of the bell for the next one to die

/pre>