Chords for Merle Haggard a Story From His Son Marty

He got the whole prison drunk.
[Eb] He made some beer, he got everybody drunk, he got him in [B] trouble. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [N] Even in prison, he got put in prison.
_ _ He got put in like a [B] _
[A] prison junior.
_ _ [Ab] Anywho, _ [D] _
[A] _ [N] while he was in San Quentin prison, he ran into this old man.
An old man that was doing life.
_ And this old man's nickname was Rabbit.
[Abm] And this old [B] man and he had become [Bm] friends and he sort of [C] befriended my dad, [Eb] sort of helped him [E] along while he was in there.
[Bb] _ But at some point in that _ [Eb] stay in prison, this old man [A] came up with an idea on how to [B] escape from San Quentin prison.
And [D] my dad was everywhere he had ever been.
Boys camp, [A] juvenile hall, county jail, wherever.
[D] He escaped [Ebm] from it. _
_ _ And he, [Bm] I guess that's where that song Running Kind came from, I don't know.
[A] _ [F] I do know that while he [D] was in there, this man came up with this plan.
[Eb] It was a good plan.
And nobody had ever [D] escaped from San Quentin _ [A] _ before [D] and nobody [Eb] has ever escaped from San Quentin since.
[A] But this old man came up with a really good plan.
He worked in [N] the wood shop in the prison. _
And they were making a big [E] desk for a big judge there in San Francisco.
[Eb] _ _ _ [D] And the big, the legs or the drawer [N] sections of that big old desk _ had a big enough section at [B] the end of each one of the legs that you could put a man in.
_ And so [Eb] they come up with this idea about just [C] before they put the back on it, to put a man at each leg and [N] then nail it on.
_ And they would [A] put it on the truck and they would haul it out of the prison because back then they didn't [B] have x-ray and all that stuff.
So it was relatively easy once you got in there.
[A] _ _ _ [D] _ And he had made my [Ab] dad aware that he was going to do [A] this.
_ [Eb] And my dad asked him, can I go with you?
He [D] said, I want to go.
_ [Am] And this old [A] man said, you're welcome to go, Merle, but I'm asking you not [Abm] to go.
Please don't [F] go.
_ [A] He said, you're a young man.
[B] He said, if you'll straighten up, you can get out of here.
[C] _
He said, [E] [Ab] and you've got something really, [A] really _ unique about your music.
You need to get out of prison and [D] go pursue music.
You've got a [Eb] talent.
You've got a real great talent for music. _
[A] Long story, very [F] short.
The old man [A] talked my dad out of [D] going with him on that prison break.
[A] _
And [D] my dad [A] tells the story.
It was a very [B] heart-jerking [Abm] story because he desperately wanted [A] out of prison, rightfully so.
And he had [Eb] an opportunity to go.
This old man talked him out of it.
_ And the [Bb] old man did escape.
And he got out.
[N] And he told my dad, you don't want to go with me because if they catch me, we're going to hold court on the street.
He said, I ain't got nothing to lose.
You've got something to [D] lose.
Please don't go.
_ The old man did escape.
They [Eb] caught up with him in San [D] Jose.
_ And when they [A] caught up with him, the battle took [D] place.
And he ended up killing a police [Db] officer.
_ [Eb] And as a result of that crime, [D] it's an [Eb] automatic death sentence.
And rightfully [A] so, may I ask.
_ [D] _ _ Anyway, they brought him back to San Quentin Prison to execute him.
[E] But [A] just as [N] he came into reception in the San Quentin Prison, my dad was standing there behind the glass waiting for him.
Just to [A] wave at him.
_ [Ab] And he heard him [C] tell the warden that was standing [A] there.
He said, can this [E] guy sing me one more song, [C] one last song before I go?
[A] _ And my dad wrote this song [Bb] right here about that [E] conversation or that situation.
[A] Because although that man was a bad man, _ _ the fact is [Dm] he did some good by persuading that young man not to get involved.
And as a result, the Merle Haggard that [D] I know exists because of that.
_ _ [N] This is a song that he wrote about that story.
It's called Sing Me [A] Back Home. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Warden.
They [E] bring _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
all the way [A] to his tomb. _ _
_ And I stood there _ and said goodbye.
_ _ All the rain.
[E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] I heard him.
_ _ [E] The warden.
_ _ _ [D] There's a song my mama sang.
[A] _ _ _
And his guitar _ _ [E] played and rang and shined my [A] request. _ _ _
_ Let _ _ _ me sing _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ the [D] song _ I used to _ hear.
[A] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ It rings [D] _
from my [E] _ _ [B] life.
_ [E] _
_ [Bm] _ [Ab] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] Winter _ _ of the [A] year. _
[B] _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ Sing [E] me back _ home before [A] I die.
_ _ _ I'll _ _ [D] _
be [A] back. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _