Key: D
Introduction: Dm A
G D F
(verso 1)
A F G A
A priest joins the procession just to help me kneel
Bm C#m D Dm
With a warder at my elbow and another at my heel
A F G A
Marching in the morning down a path I've lately seen
Bm C#m D Dm
I was sleeping in this garden, am I still within my dream?
A F G A
The echo of my heartbeat is the beating of a drum
Bm C#m D Dm
And all the earth is singing with life's sweet hum
A F G A
We filed in solemn silence, shuffled through a door
Bm C#m G A
The place where life is taken for the letter of the law
(refrão)
A D E
Shake the holy water, summon up the guard
B A G F#m
Dying's very easy, waiting's very hard
(verso 2)
F#m Bm
A rope was hanging from the roof, a sight which puzzles me
F#m B
I thought a gibbet and a guard would make a gallows tree
E G
But now all is revealed, stamped there is the command
A B
My feet are on the trapdoor with a rope around my hand
A F G A
And now the executioner is shaking hands with me
Bm C#m D Dm
"My duty I must carry out, you poor fellow," says he
A F G A
A rope is tied around my feet and a bag upon my head
Bm C#m D Dm
And then the noose which separates the living from the dead
(refrão)
F#m Bm
There he whispers to me "Have you anything to say?"
F#m Bm
My mouth is dry, my throat is tight, I answer "Drop away"
E G
Silence now surrounds me, my heart is beating on
A B
The trapdoor hardly moves at all, my life is still my own
A F G A
They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet still bound
Bm C#m D Dm
While a carpenter is called for and an explanation found
A F G A
"The rain has warped the timbers," I hear the hangman say
Bm C#m D Dm
"It's funny but it worked well, I tried it yesterday"
F#m Bm
"All is mended now," they say, "your ordeal's nearly over
F#m B
Your life's as good as ended," but I hear their voices waver
E G
Once more the bolt is shaken and again I hang in limbo
A B
While the guards jump on the trapdoor and my body stands on tip-toe
(refrão)
A F G A
They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet still tied
Bm C#m D Dm
A warder holds onto the noose, the trapdoor opens wide
A F G A
Is it magic or coincidence that keeps me on the brink?
Bm C#m D Dm
It seems to work without me, "Will it kill me now?" I think
F#m Bm
"Please, I'm tired of living and I really want to die"
F#m B
I was taken to the scaffold and I heard the hangman cry
E G
"Lee, I'm truly sorry, forgive these hands of mine"
A B
He three\w the bolt and I felt the jolt the third and final time
F#m Bm
My life was spared that morning 'cos it wasn't theirs to take
F#m B
Three's the most the law requires, a man to feel the stake
(refrão 2x)