Chords for John Prine - "The Bottomless Lake" (Live)

[N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ Thank you.
[Gm] _ _ [Bb] _ _
_ _ I come from a family of four [F] boys.
_ My oldest [Gb] brother Dave and then
[B] Douglas _ [Bbm] and me and little [G] Bill.
Little Bill's six foot eight.
[Eb] _ _
_ I used to beat him
up when he was little.
I'm sorry for that now.
_ _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Abm] Our dad was a tool and die maker at
the _ _ [E] _
_ _ American Can [G] Company in Maywood, Illinois.
_ _ So he didn't get a whole lot of
[Gm] vacation, [Eb] but _ _ [Bb]
he _ would save his money and take us for a weekend trip [Fm] sometime.
[Ab] _
No place in [F] particular.
_ [C] _ He'd [G] just make sure that the Holiday Inn had a
swimming [Em] pool.
_ _ So [F] he would [Ab] stay up pretty [Gb] late the night before we'd leave and
have his road maps out [G] and a couple of quarts of beer.
He'd draw a big circle on
[Gb] so he wouldn't have to pass the same place twice.
_ _ _ _ Our [Ab] mother didn't think
that our dad was the best driver in the [G] world.
_ _ [Ab] He always took the scenic [Gb] routes,
which meant two-lane highways and inevitably we'd find [F] ourselves behind a
semi.
_ [G] So he'd pull out to [Fm] pass it and of course there'd be another one coming at
us.
_ _ _ Our mother would go, my god Bill, you're gonna kill every one of us.
[Ab] _ _
_ _ [B] And me
and my brothers would look at each other in the backseat and go, that woman's [F] never
lied to us before.
_ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _
Here's the story of a man and his family [F] and a big trip that
they [Bb] took.
_ _ I heard all about it in a restaurant and I read it [C] in a history
book.
[F] _ They [Eb] rented a car [Bb] at the Erie Canal, but the car didn't have no [Eb] brake.
Said my topa, my god this car is gonna fall into [F] the [Bb] bottomless lake.
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ Well mama
turned to daddy with a pale face, said I've [F] done something horribly [Bb] wrong.
_ The
water's still running in the bathtub and [C] I think I left the kitchen light [F] on. _
Then
I [G] heard it [Cm] crash.
The [Bb] car went splash.
The compass rolled around and around.
[Eb] _
Oh for
heaven's sake, [Bb] we fell in the lake and I [F] think we're all gonna [Bb] drown.
We are
[F] falling down, down to the bottom of a [Bb] hole in the ground.
Smoke them if you got
them.
[Eb] I'm so scared [Bb] I can hardly breathe.
I may [F] never see my sweetheart [Bb] again. _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ There was plenty of food in the backseat [F] and the windows was rolled [Bb] up tight.
_ So
we all nibbled on chicken leg [F] and told stories [C] way through the [F] night.
_ [Eb] I told one
[Bb] that he told before and the baby got a [Eb] _ bellyache.
Said my topa, [Bb] my god this car is
[F] falling down the bottomless [Bb] lake.
We are [F] falling down, down to the [Bb] bottom of a
hole in the ground.
Smoke them if you got them.
[Eb] I'm so [Bb] scared I can hardly breathe.
I may [F] never see my sweetheart [Bb] again.
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [Cm] _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ Well Papa played the music on the radio _ [F] and
Mama rocked the [Bb] baby to sleep.
_ _ He said he would have taken the other road [Am] but he
didn't think the lake was [C] that deep.
[F] _ _ _ _ _ If the ferry had [G] been [Bb] there at the end of the
pier, we'd be halfway to Uncle [Eb] _ Jake's.
Instead of looking at fish [Bb] out the
window I wish, we'd hit the [F] bottom of the bottomless [Bb] lake.
We are [F] falling down,
down to the bottom of [Bb] a hole in the ground.
Smoke them if you got them.
I'm [Eb] so
[Bb] scared I can hardly breathe.
[F] I may never see my sweetheart [Bb] again.
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ After years and
years of [Gm] writing story [Bb] songs, _ [B] I've learned one thing.
[Bb] _ [B] If you're writing a
story song, you better have a darn good ending to [Bb] it.
_ _ _ _ And if you don't, then [Ab] you
better have a [Bb] good moral to the story.
_ _ _ _ Here's the moral to the story. _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
So if
you're ever going on a big trip, [F] you better be careful [Bb] out there.
_ Study
everything on your good foot and [Am] wear clean [F] underwear.
_ _ [Eb] Take a long Bible [Bb] in the
backseat.
Read of David and of Solomon.
[Eb] _ Or if you make a mistake [Bb] in the
bottomless lake, you may [Fm] never see your sweetheart [Bb] again.
If you [Eb] should make a
mistake in [Bb] the bottomless lake, you may never [F] see your sweetheart [Bb] again.
_ If you
should [Eb] make a mistake in the [Bb] bottomless lake, you may never [F] see your sweetheart
[Bb] again.
That's right.
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ _ [Bb] _ [Eb] _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Thank you.
_ _ [Gm] _ _ [C] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _