North Country Blues Chords by Joan Baez

[Abm] _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ [Abm] _ _
_ _ _ Come gather round, friends, [Gb] and I'll tell you a tale
_ Of [Abm] when the red [Gb] iron orphans were [Abm] _ _ unplenty _ _ _
_ _ _ But the cardboard [B]
-filled windows [Gb] and old men on the benches
_ [Abm] Tell you now [Gb] that the whole [Abm] town is _ empty _ _ _
_ _ In the north end of town my [Gb] own children are _ grown
_ [Abm] But I was [Gb] raised up [Abm] on the other _ _ In _ _ _ _ the wee hours of [B] youth [Gb] my mother took sick
_ _ _ [Abm] And I [Gb] was brought up by [Abm] my _ brother _ _ The _ _ _ _ _ iron orphans as [Gb] the years passed the door
_ _ [Abm] The drag [Gb] lines and the shovels [Abm] was a _ homage _ Till _ _ _ _ _ one day [B] my brother _ [Gb] failed to come _ home
_ _ [Abm] Same as [Gb] my father [Abm] before _ _ _ _ _ him
_ Well the long winters wait [Gb] from the window I _ _ watched
[Ab] My friends [Gb] they couldn't have [Ab] been _ [Abm] _ kinder _ _
_ _ _ _ _ School [B] was cut as [Gb] I quit in the spring
_ To [Ab] marry [Gb] John Thomas, [Abm] a miner _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Oh the years passed again [Gb] and the giving was good
_ With [Abm] the lunch buckets [Gb]
filled [Abm] every season _ _
When _ _ _ with three [B] babies born [Gb] the work was cut down
_ _ [Abm] To half a [Gb] day's shift [Abm] with no _ reason _ _
_ _ And the shop was soon shut and [Gb] my work it was cut
_ _ [Abm] And the firing [Gb] air it [Abm] felt _ frozen
_ Till _ _ _ _ a man _ [B]
was free and [Gb] he said in one _ week
_ [Abm] That number [Gb] 11 [Abm] was _ closing _ _ _
_ _ _ They complained in leaves [Gb] that their pain too high
_ _ [Abm] They say that [Gb] your ore ain't [Abm] worth _ digging _ _ _
_ But _ it's much [B] cheaper down [Gb] South American _ town
_ _ [Abm] Where the miners [Gb] work almost [Abm] for nothing
_ _ _ So _ _ _ the mining gates locked [Gb] and the red iron rotted _
_ _ [Abm] And the moon [Gb] smelled heavy [Abm] when drinking
And _ _ that _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [B] silence song [Gb] made the hour twice as _ long
[Abm] As I waited for [Gb] the sun [Abm] to go sinking _ _ _ _ _
I _ _ lived by the window as [Gb] he talked to himself _
_ _ [Abm] This silence of [Gb] tongues it was [Abm] _ building _ _ _ _
_ Morning's _ _ _ _ [B] _
weak, [Gb] the bed it was bare
_ _ [Abm] And I's [Gb] left alone with [Abm] three children _ _ _ _
Summer _ _ _ _ is gone, [Gb] the ground's turning _ cold
The [Abm] stars one [Gb] by one [Abm] they're unfolding
And my _ _ _ _ _ _ _ children [B] will grow [Gb] as soon as they _ grow
_ _ _ For [Ab] there ain't nothing [Gb] here [Abm] now to hold _ them
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _