WWW.AZCHORDS.COM | Eliza Gilkyson - Ballad Of Yvonne Johnson Chords | Version #1
CAPO: 2nd Fret
INTRO: F C F C
My name is Yvonne Johnson
F C
My native blood is Cree
G C
I'm here to tell the story
F C F C F C
Of the life stolen from me
My grandfather's grandfather was
F C
The great war chief Big Bear
G C
And Flora my grandmother worked
F C
With medicine and prayer
My mother is Saskatchewan
F C
My daddy ex-Marine
G C
And I was just a half-breed
F C
Falling somewhere in between
F C
Somewhere in between
G C
Raised up in a reckless world
G C
Of drugs and alcohol
G C
The police killed my brother, Earl
F G
The only one who cared at all
C
Cleft palate split my face in two
F C
No surgery can repair
G C
I lived in shame and ridicule
F C
Foundations of despair
F C F C F C
Foundations of despair
First memory of my brother, Leon
F C
I was only three
G C
He threw me on the table
F C
Forced himself inside of me
All the kids stood 'round
F C
As I descended into hell
G C
When I told my daddy 'bout it
F C F
Well, he had his way as well, boys
C
He took me down as well
G C
I didn't have a language
G C
For the pain I suffered through
G C
Escaping into marriage
F G
But your past just catches up with you
C
Until I had three children
F C
And a ragged family
G C
A desperate urge to keep them
F C F
From the wolves that got to me, boys
C
Wolves that got to me
INSTRUMENTAL: C F C G C F C F C G C G C G C F
C F C F C
I wish I could forget that night
F C
The way the cards all fell
G C
The deck was stacked against me
F C
And I played my part so well
Three days on the party
F C
In a drunken revelry
G C
Shirley Ann said Chuck had plans
F C
To lure my kids from me
F C
Lure my kids from me
G C
We stuck him with a dagger
G C
And we beat him 'round the head
G C
I unleashed all my anger
F G
And I didn't stop when he was dead
C
They set me up to take the fall
F C
I went down willingly
G C
Now I'm doing life in prison
F C F
While the rest of them run free, boys
C
They're all running free
INSTRUMENTAL: C F C F C F G C
Grandmother, grandmother
F C
Send your prayers to me
G C
Protect me and my children
F C
For I love them endlessly
Creator, creator
F C
I have come alive
G C
Medicine Bear Woman
F C F
Doing life at thirty-five, boys
C
Life at thirty-five
F
I pray, help me to make my amends
C
To those that I have harmed
F
Grant them love and peace so they may
C
Understand I'm sorry
F
Help me share my shame and pain
C
So others they might do the same
F
And so awaken to themselves
C
And to all peoples of this world
OUTRO:
F
Oh, Hai hai, hai hai
C
Ho ho, ho ho
F
Ohh ooh
C
Ohh ooh
F
Ohh ooh
C F C F C F C F C F C F C F C