Highway 17 chords by Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell

SimplifiedAm · Dm · Bb · F · E …

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Verse 1
Am 
This kind of went on up the block
when I was a kid.
Dm 
I put away fifteen grand
Am 
doing one night stands,
Dm 
Am 
mostly liquor stores and filling stations.
Dm 
Me  and this peepin' Tom
by the name of J .D. Swan
and any number of his
Bb 
F 
oddblood relations
Am 
This was armed robbery in 1957
and mostly our getaways were clean
F 
I'd pay off the boys
Bb 
F 
and I'd bury the bread out on Highway  17
Am 
I had five kids and a wife
with one dress
and a yard full of cars that won't run
Dm 
My two oldest boys, they
were on to my noise,
F 
Bb 
F 
they despised what the daddy done
E 
But I did what I did
the best way that I could,
Am 
making my plans by the light of day
F 
Dm 
the night would fall it was time to call
Am 
E 
I was always on my way now
Am 
JD he was crazy and he was inbred
and he drank whiskey
like he's going out of style
F 
you know I should have seen it coming
Am 
Dm 
the right was on the wall
Am 
F 
he's getting just a little too loose and wild
Am 
and he made his mistake out
on Airline Drive
you know those North Houston
cops are quick
F 
Dm 
Blew a hole in J .D. the size
F 
of Dallas
Dm 
Put a lump on my head
with the brunt of a nightstick
F 
Am 
F 
Am 
E 
You know that five to
ten in Huntsville
ain't no good time, boys
Am 
When I walk that line,
do you know what I mean?
F 
Cause my mind was snug on that hole
Dm 
E 
I dug out on Highway  17
Am 
I said, my mind was snug on that hole
F 
E 
Am 
I dug out on Highway 17
So I served my time
the only way I knew how
Thinkin' big and makin' plans
F 
C 
All about how to ways
Bb 
I was gonna change the world
F 
when I get my hands on that 15 grand
Am 
You know C .W. and Herschel,
my two oldest boys,
they took care of their mommas
and their little sisters
the best way that they could
Bb 
F 
Dealin' dimes and stealin' hubcaps,
you know
Am 
F 
Pretty soon they were doing good
Am 
E 
And I walked out those prison gates
Am 
a free man on the first day of November 1963
F 
Dm 
I Kissed my wife and I hugged my babies,
E 
but they didn't  seem the same to me
Am 
E 
Am 
The boys looked on they were already grown
it was written across their
eyes and their faces
F 
And I'm the perfect sample
of a bad example
Dm 
F 
Gone forever from their graces
Dm 
Am 
But baby, six long years
and a lot can change
Many miles beyond your wildest dreams
F 
But a six -lane wide
modern interstate ride
Out on Highway 17
Am 
Lord, they broke my back
F 
They built a concrete track out
E 
on Highway 17
Am 
Yeah, they sunk my ship
F 
Need the concrete strip out
E 
on Highway 17
Am 
So  you can bury me
F 
Need that concrete free out
E 
Am 
on Highway 17
E 
You know, for some reason,
I think mankind has
always been fascinated
with pushing dirt around.
Find a nice little pile of dirt over here
and just got to have it
over here, you know?
E 
Can't leave well enough alone.
It's kind of a little exist
ential treatise
on pushing dirt around.