Slim Dusty - The Ghost Of Ben Hall Chords

[Intro]
F F C C F
 
[Verse 1]
     F
In a bend where the Lachlan flows peacefully on,
                          C
it stands in a clump of belahs.
 
A tumbledown relic of days that gone
                                  F
it dreams 'neath the light of the stars.
 
It is tenanted now by the owls and the bats,
                                    C
and they fly in and out through the door.
 
But big bearded bushmen in cabbage tree hats,
                         F
ride up to the shanty no more.
 
[Interlude]
F F C C
 
[Verse 2]
         C
Oh, what tales it could tell if its walls had a tongue,
                           G
oh, its lurid and larrikan past.
 
Of the jokes that were played and the songs that were sung,
                                    C
when the gin and the whiskey flowed fast.
 
A hard drinking lot were those bushmen of old,
                                     F
and they gathered from near and from far,
                   C
Oh, but all of the riders lie under the mould,
    G                        C
who drank in that tumbledown bar.
 
[Interlude]
C C F F
 
[Verse 3]
    F
Ben Hall often sampled it's whisky and gin,
                                  C
when he came to the bend with his gang.
 
And the walls and the rafters rang loud to the din,
                                  F
of the boisterous songs that they sang.
 
Ben Hall was a troublesome person at times,
                               C
but he paid like a man for his grog.
 
And he paid in full measure at last for his crimes,
                                F
the police shot him down like a dog.
 
[Interlude]
F F C C
 
[Verse 4]
        C
Oh, but time is a tyrant and time travels fast,
                                G
and the old shanty stands in the shade.
 
And mourns for the men of that picturesque past,
                                 C
of the jokes and the antics they played.
 
The curlews lament from the rushes and reeds,
                                   F
when the shadows of evening descend.
                        C
Big, bearded bushmen on half broken steeds,
     G                     C
come riding no more to the bend.
 
[Interlude]
C C F F
M-m-m-m
 
[Verse 5]
        F
But the old hands declare that on cold winter nights,
                               C
when the heavens are misty and blurred.
 
The Shanty is filled with mysterious lights,
                            F
and voices and laughter are heard.
 
And they say you can see when the door swings ajar,
                           C
a figure black bearded and tall.
 
Revolver in hand by the side of the bar,
                                     F
and they swear it's the ghost of Ben Hall.
 
[Outro]
Bb                      F
Revolver in hand by the side of the bar,
         C                           F
and they swear it's the ghost of Ben Hall.
F Bb Bb                          F F
     Look out or I'll shoot. ....