Caroline Herring - Mistress Chords

INTRO: G  F  C    G  F  C    G  F  C    G  F  C 

           G      F           C
Who was my mother, who was my father
         G          F            C     G
All I've known is a whip upon my back
                       F              C  
My skin is yellowed by much more than weakness
    Am              G            F            C       G  C
And wise beyond the years of the blue and the black


             G             F               C
My arms were never strong enough to stir molasses
        G          F                C   G
My eyes watch riverboats as they go by
                             F               C     ~ Am
Some call me mistress, but I wish that I was cargo
                  G            F              C   F  C  ~ Am
Floating down the Brazos in my chariot to the sky

 
CHORUS:
                     F           C
Oh Rachel, won't you lie next to me
  Dm        Am             G      C
Tonight and every night to come
              G               F             C
And won't you calm all that's raging inside me
       Am               G                F         C    G  F  C    G  F  C
'Cause outside's just a battlefield that Santa Ana won

 
           G                F            C
My people, they worked from can't see to can't see
       G          F               C       G
Traded in and out from the grassy shores
                 F          C       ~ Am
They say there's something about me
              G                F          C      G  C
Flying like a bird, never known freedom before___


             G                F            C
Well, I wear dresses of silks and threaded satins
                G             F              C       G
Some gowns were only meant to bear a woman's breast
                      F                 C  
I'll stand down every white man in this county
      Am             G                F                  C    F  C  ~ Am
But Columbus you are dying and I'm no different from the rest

 
CHORUS:
                     F           C
Oh Rachel, won't you lie next to me
  Dm        Am             G      C
Tonight and every night to come
              G               F             C
And won't you calm all that's raging inside me
Am               G                F         C    G  F  C    G  F  C
Outside's just a battlefield that Santa Ana won


INSTRUMENTAL: G  F  C  Am  G  F  C  

 
      G           F           C
I was born in the hills of Kentucky
      G             F               C     G
Never native to the auction block arrest
                       F               C       ~ Am
Headed Southbound as a captive in this country
              G                   F                  C     G  C
Just like the cowboys drove their cattle through the West___


              G            F            C
Well, you can read all our names in the records
          G          F               C 
You can deny all the days as they go down
          G                  F              C       ~ Am
There's a brick-laid pathway calling you to find us
             G                 F          C     F  C  ~ Am
Underneath a golf course in an east Texas town

 
CHORUS:
                     F           C
Oh Rachel, won't you lie next to me
  Dm        Am             G      C
Tonight and every night to come
              G               F             C
And won't you calm all that's raging inside me
       Am               G                F         C    G  F 
'Cause outside's just a battlefield that Santa Ana won
          C   G  F
Santa Ana won____
          C    G  F  C    G  F  C
Santa Ana won