Key: G
Introduction:
G
Said the shepherd to his wife,
C
The crop of hay is cut and dried.
D2 C
I'll bail it up and bring it in,
C
Before the coming storm begins.
G
Go, she said, and beat the storm,
C
And then there is another chore.
D2 C
Today the baby will be born,
C
You'll take me to the hospital.
G
Said the shepherd, if it's true,
C
'Twere better if I stayed with you.
D2 C
I'd rather let the harvest go,
C
And hasten to the hospital.
G
Nay, she told him, I'll be fine,
C
We both have laboring to do.
D2 C
You do yours and I'll do mine,
C
And the babe will wait 'til the work is through.
Instrumental ( *same riff)
G C D2 C G
G
The shepherd rode the yellow rows,
C
The clouds above and the field below.
D2 C
Until the bails had all been tied,
C
Then home returned to find his wife.
G
The sweat was wet upon her brown,
C
Her breath it cameth labouredly.
D2 C
And then the rain was coming down,
C
Upon the field of yellow hay.
G
Said the shepherd, it's no use,
C
The rain will surely win the race.
D2 C
'Twere better if we let it fall,
C
And hurry to the hospital.
G
Go, she said, and work with haste,
C
And bring the bails into the barn.
D2 C
Else the crop will go to waste,
C
And the babe will wait 'til the work is done.
Instrumental ( *same riff)
G C D2 C G
G
The shepherd drove into the storm,
C
And to and from the yellow barn.
D2 C
'Til half the bails were safely in,
C
Then went to find his wife again.
G
How many times her name he called,
C
And no replying would she make.
D2 C
Her breath it cameth not at all,
C
She would not rise from where she lay.
Instrumental ( *same riff)
G C D2 C G
G
The storm was o'er within the hour,
C
The shepherd saw the sun come out.
D2 C
The shepherd's wife saw ne'er again,
C
He buried her and the babe within.
G
He turned the seed into the ground,
C
He brought the flock to feed thereon.
D2 C
He held the cleaver and the plow,
C
And the shepherd's work was never done.