(intro) DmA (7x)
GDF
(verso 1)
AFGA
A priest joins the procession just to help me kneel
BmC#mDDm
With a warder at my elbow and another at my heel
AFGA
Marching in the morning down a path I've lately seen
BmC#mDDm
I was sleeping in this garden, am I still within my dream?
AFGA
The echo of my heartbeat is the beating of a drum
BmC#mDDm
And all the earth is singing with life's sweet hum
AFGA
We filed in solemn silence, shuffled through a door
BmC#mGA
The place where life is taken for the letter of the law
(refrão)
ADE
Shake the holy water, summon up the guard
BAGF#m
Dying's very easy, waiting's very hard
(verso 2)
F#mBm
A rope was hanging from the roof, a sight which puzzles me
F#mB
I thought a gibbet and a guard would make a gallows tree
EG
But now all is revealed, stamped there is the command
AB
My feet are on the trapdoor with a rope around my hand
AFGA
And now the executioner is shaking hands with me
BmC#mDDm
"My duty I must carry out, you poor fellow," says he
AFGA
A rope is tied around my feet and a bag upon my head
BmC#mDDm
And then the noose which separates the living from the dead
(refrão)
(verso 3)
F#mBm
There he whispers to me "Have you anything to say?"
F#mBm
My mouth is dry, my throat is tight, I answer "Drop away"
EG
Silence now surrounds me, my heart is beating on
AB
The trapdoor hardly moves at all, my life is still my own
(violino solo 8x) A F G A
AFGA
They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet still bound
BmC#mDDm
While a carpenter is called for and an explanation found
AFGA
"The rain has warped the timbers," I hear the hangman say
BmC#mDDm
"It's funny but it worked well, I tried it yesterday"
F#mBm
"All is mended now," they say, "your ordeal's nearly over
F#mB
Your life's as good as ended," but I hear their voices waver
EG
Once more the bolt is shaken and again I hang in limbo
AB
While the guards jump on the trapdoor and my body stands on tip-toe
(refrão)
(verso 4)
AFGA
They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet still tied
BmC#mDDm
A warder holds onto the noose, the trapdoor opens wide
AFGA
Is it magic or coincidence that keeps me on the brink?
BmC#mDDm
It seems to work without me, "Will it kill me now?" I think
F#mBm
"Please, I'm tired of living and I really want to die"
F#mB
I was taken to the scaffold and I heard the hangman cry
EG
"Lee, I'm truly sorry, forgive these hands of mine"
AB
He three\w the bolt and I felt the jolt the third and final time
F#mBm
My life was spared that morning 'cos it wasn't theirs to take
F#mB
Three's the most the law requires, a man to feel the stake
(refrão 2x)