Sam Bass chords by Alan Lomax

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Verse 1
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Sam Bess was born in Indiana,
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it was his native home.
And at the age of seventeen,
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young Sam began to roam.
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Sam first came out to Texas,
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a cowboy for to be.
A kinder hearted fella you'd
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seldom ever see
Sam used to deal in race stock,
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one called the Denton Bear
He matched her in scrub races
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and took her to the fair
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Sam used to coin the money bars
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and spend it just as free
He always drank good whiskey
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wherever he might be
Sam left the Collins Ranch
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in the merry month of May
With a herd of Texas
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cattle the Black Hills far to see
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Sold out in Custer City
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and then got on a spree
A harder set of cowboys
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you'd seldom ever see
On their way back to Texas,
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they robbed the UP train
Then split up in couples
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and started out again
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Joe Collins and his partner
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were overtaken soon
With all their hard -earned money,
boys,
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they had to meet their doom
Sam made it back to Texas,
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all right side up with care
Rode into the town of Denton,
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with all his friends to share
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Sam's life was short in Texas,
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three robberies did he do
He robbed all the passenger mail
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and express cars too
Sam met his fate in Round Rock
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July the 21st
They pierced poor Sam with rifle balls
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and emptied out his purse
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Poor Sam is a corpse
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and six foot under clay
And Jackson's in the bushes, boys,
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a -tryin' to get away
Jim had borrowed Sam's good gold
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and didn't want to pay
The only shot he saw
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was to give poor Sam away
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He sold out Sam and Barnes
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and left their friends to mourn
Oh, what a scorchin' Jim will get
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when Gabriel blows his horn
Yes, he sold out salmon barns
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and left their friends to mourn
Oh, what a scorchin' gem we'll get
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when Gabriel blows his horn
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Perhaps he's got to heaven,
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there's none of us can say
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But if I'm right in my surmise,
he's gone the other way
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