Cash Johnny - I Never Picked Cotton Tabs

I Never Picked Cotton  (written by Charles Williams/Bobby George)
        --  By Johnny Cash (Unchained album 1996)

        E
Chorus  I never picked cotton
        A      E          A       E
like my mother did and my brother did
       A      E
and my sister did
                         A
and my daddy died young
          E
in a coal mine

        F
1.      When I was just a baby
too little for the cotton sack
I played in the dirt while the others worked
til they couldn't straighten their backs
F#
and I made my self a promise
when I was old enough to run
that I'd never stay a single day
in that Oaklahoma sun
And I...
Chorus
        F
2.      Folks said that I grew up early
and the farm couldn't hold me then
so I stole ten bucks and a pick up truck
and I never went back again
F#
and it was fast cars and wiskey
long legged girls and fun
I had everything that money could bring
and I took it all with a gun
And I...
Chorus

        F
3.      It was Saturday night in Memphis
when a redneck grabbed my shirt
and he said go back to your cotton sack
I left him lyin in the dirt
F#
and they'll take me in the morning
to the gallows just outside
and in the time I've got their aint a hell of a lot
I can look back on with pride
But I...
Chorus X2

tabbed by Darren Marynick
marynick@meena.uregina.ca