The Randall Knife chords by Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell

SimplifiedD · Em · A · G · C

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Intro 1

Verse 1
D 
 (D major) My
father had a randle knife
Em 
G 
 (E minor) My   mother  (G major) gave it to him
Em 
D 
A 
when  (E minor) he  (D major) went off to  (A major) World War II
G 
D 
to save  (G major) us all from  (D major) ru in.
Now, if you've ever held
a Randall knife,
C 
G 
you know  (C major) my father  (G major) well.
Em 
A 
 (E minor) If    (A major) a better blade was ever made,
D 
it was probably  (D major) forged in hell.
My father was a good man,
G 
he was a lawyer  (G major) by his trade,
A 
an (A major) d  only once did I ever
G 
Em 
D 
see him  (G major) misuse a  (E minor) blade.  (D major) 
Well, it almost cut his thumb off
Em 
G 
when  (E minor) he took  (G major) it for a tool.
A 
Ah, the  (A major) knife was made for darker things,
Em 
D 
and you could not  (E minor) bend the rules.  (D major) 
He let me take it camping
Em 
A 
G 
once on  (E minor) a Boy  (A major) Scout jambor (G major) ee.
A 
 (A major) I  broke a half an inch off
Em 
D 
trying to stick it in a  (E minor) tree.  (D major) 
Well, I hid it from him for a while,
C 
G 
Em 
with a  (C major) knife, and he were  (G major) one,  (E minor) 
A 
 (A major) and he put it in his bottom
drawer
G 
Em 
without a hard  (G major) -word  (E minor) mark,
D 
 (D major) and there it slept,
and there it stayed for
Em 
For twenty -some odd  (E minor) years,
A 
 (A major) sort of like Excalibur,
Em 
D 
Em 
A 
except waiting for  (E minor) a tear.  (D major)  (E minor)  (A major) 
D 
A 
 (D major)  (A major) 
D 
 (D major) When my father died when I was forty,
Em 
I couldn't  (E minor) find a way to cry.
A 
 (A major) Not because I didn't love him,
G 
D 
not because  (G major) he didn't try.  (D major) 
I'd cried for every lesser thing,
C 
G 
for whiskey,  (C major) pain,  (G major) 
Em 
A 
 (E minor) but   (A major) he deserved a better tear,
Em 
D 
and  (E minor) I was not quite  (D major) ready.
So we took his ashes out to sea
G 
and  (G major) poured them off the stern
A 
an (A major) d  then threw the roses
in the wake of everything
G 
D 
we'd  (G major) learned.  (D major) 
And when we got back to the house,
G 
Em 
they  (G major) asked me what I wanted.  (E minor) 
A 
D 
A 
 (A major) Not the law books,  (D major) not the  (A major) watch.
Em 
D 
I  (E minor) need the thing he's  (D major) haunted
Will my hand burn for the random knife
G 
There in the bottom drawer (G major) 
Em 
A 
An (E minor)  (A major) d  I found a tear for my father's life
Em 
D 
Em 
A 
D 
And  (E minor) all that it  (D major) stood  (E minor)  (A major)  (D major) 
Thank you very much.