Key: D major•
Verse 1
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D
went down to the company store
Got him a big box of bullets
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D
are you gonna work? You know you owe me too much to stop."
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D
G
John said, "I got a little workin' to do
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but I ain't goin' by your clock."
People said John was a slacker,
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'cause he wouldn't fight in their war
A man wasn't much if he wouldn't
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The doctor said John was just too sick to go,
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but the people said that he was a coward
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And one of the men makin' fun of him was
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a fellow named Milton Howard
Milton was down at the cold spring,
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a- drinkin' from a mason jar
He said, "John, you better get yourself to work
A
or you're gonna fool around 'til you get fired."
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two holes in Milton's head
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G
When Johnny walked off to get some more shootin' done,
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that ol' cold spring was a- runnin' red
Next guy he met was a Stigall boy,
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and the boy had a hammer in his hand
John said "Son, you should've built yourself a box,
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'cause you're a headed for the Promised Land."
Stigall fell down to his knees to pray,
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and he cried "Lord, Johnny please don't shoot!"
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Before he got halfway to saying "Amen",
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Eb
well old Johnny shot him out of his boots
Word went out through the county,
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that old John had lost his head
The people were runnin' and screamin'; there
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had satisfaction in his eyes
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He said "I know they're coming to get me, boys,
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but they ain't a- gonna take me alive."
People gathered 'round that old farmhouse; it was
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the relatives of all them dead
Now John said, "If the sheriff comes through that door
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The sheriff kicked down that old farmhouse door,
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but old John's gun would not shoot
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Johnny just smiled at the sheriff and said,
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"The Lord must think a lot of you."
They took old John to the jailhouse; he
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entered in a guilty plea
The judge said death in the electric chair,
'cause it's murder in the first degree
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John's last meal was a lot of fried chicken,
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cold beans and baby squash
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He ate every bite that they brought him,
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then he smiled and said, "I thank you all a lot."
They put old John in the electric chair;
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they shaved his ankles and his head
The preacher said, "Son, have you got something to
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and the people know that I won't run."
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A
Then Johnny smiled up at the warden and said,
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B
"Turn it on, turn it on, turn it on!"
E
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TunerE A D G B E
ChordsD G A Eb Ab...
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