Chords for Nanci Griffith - Tecumseh Valley

_ _ _ _ My middle name is Caroline and this is a song of Townes Van Zandt's about a woman named
Caroline and I first heard this song when I was about 14 years old and I always had
this real endearment to this character that Townes Van Zandt had written about [N] named Caroline
and when I left home I carried that character of Caroline around in my heart and she was
like my guardian angel for me and I've always owed Townes Van Zandt a great debt for not
for just keeping me alive sometimes, keeping me from falling because I always had that
character of his, of Caroline to lean on.
She was there beside me everywhere I went
and we all knew characters like Caroline when we were young girls and they were all reasons
for us to keep our spines straight and our chins.
_ So to Townes Van Zandt, thank you. _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ The name she gave was Caroline, [Bb] the daughter _ [F] of a miner, and her [Bb] waves were free [Am] and it
seemed to [C] me the sunshine _ [Bb] walked beside her.
_ [F] _
_ _ _ She came as fast as [Bb] she could [F] across the hill.
She said her pockets empty as [C] the cold was low.
[Am]
Soon [Dm] the snow [C] would turn to dust.
_ [Bb] She _ _ [F] _
_ _ _ said she'd come [Bb] to look [F] for work and [Bb] she was not seeking [F] favorites. _
[Bb] For a dam a day and [Am] a place [Dm] to stay, [C] she turned long and [Bb] spenated.
_ _ [F] _
_ _ _ Her drives were hard, Lord, [Bb] her [F] jobs were near, [Bb] all filled with the ghost of [F] daddy.
She [Bb] asked around at [Am] her job she [Dm] found, didn't [C] mind the chance [Bb] to be found.
She _ [F] _ _
_ _ _ saved enough [Bb] to get back [F] home. _
Spring replaced the winter, _
but her dreams were denied.
Her [Am]
father [Dm] died, [C] the words come down [Bb] the steps.
_ [F] _ _ _
_ [C] _ So she turned to hoarding [Bb] out [F] on the streets [Bb] with all the lust [F] inside her.
And [Bb] it was many a man [Em] returned _ [Dm] again [C] to lay himself [Bb] beside her.
_ _ [F] _
_ _ _ He found her down [Bb] _ [F] beneath the stairs [Bb] that led [F] to Gypsy Sightings.
[Bb] In her hand when she died [Am] was an old man that cried,
[C] Feathery, _
_ [Bb] goopsy-thine.
_ [F] _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _
_ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ [Am] _ _ [Dm] _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _
And the name she gave [Bb] was _ [F]
Caroline,
[Bb] Daughter _ [F] of a man.
_ [Bb] And her ways were free, [Am] and it [Dm] seemed to be [C] a sunshine _ [Bb] walk of sanity. _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ [N] I like every scene of cover, every that I've ever heard.
It can be by three year olds who can't talk yet, or it can be whinos who can't talk anymore.
If it's a cover of mine, I tend to like it.
But that's the best cover of any of my songs, ever.
I think she_