Chords for North Country Blues

_ _ _ [Gb] _ _ _
[Abm] _ _ _ _ _
Come gather round, friends, and [Gb] I'll tell you a _ tale
Of [Abm] when the red [Gb] iron ore [Abm] pits were _ _ unplenty _ _ _ _ _
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 [B] hours of youth [Gb] my mother took sick _ _ _
[Abm] And I [Gb] was brought up [Abm] by my brother _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
The iron ore poured [Gb] as the years passed the door
_ [Abm] The drag [Gb] lines and the shovels [Abm] was a-hummin' _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Till one day [B] my brother [Gb] _ failed to come _ home _ _
[Abm] Same [Gb] as my father [Abm] before _ _ _ him
_ _ Well, _ the long winters [Ab] wade [Gb] from the window I walk
_ _ [Ab] My friends, [Gb] they couldn't have [Ab] been _ [Abm] kinder _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ My school, it [B] was cut as [Gb] I quit in the _ spring _
[Ab] To marry [Gb] John Thomas, [Abm] a miner _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
Oh, the years passed again [Gb] and the giving was _ good
_ [Abm] With the lunch [Gb] buckets filled [Abm] every season _ _ _ _ _
_ _ What with three [B] babies born [Gb] the work was cut _ down _
[Abm] To half a day's shift [Abm] with no reason _ _
_ _ _ _ _
And the shaft was soon shut and [Gb] my work it was cut
_ And [Abm] the [Gb] firing air [Abm] it felt _ frozen
_ Till _ _ _ _ _ a man [B] to speak and [Gb] he said in one _ week _
[Abm] That number [Gb] eleven [Abm] was _ _ closin' _
_ _ _ _ _
They complained in the east [Gb] that their _ payin' too _ high
_ [Abm] They say [Gb] that your ore ain't [Abm] worth _ _ diggin' _ _ _ _
_ _ It's much [B] cheaper down [Gb] South American _ town _ _
[Abm] Where the miners [Gb] work _ [Abm] almost for nothin' _ _ _ _
_ So _ _ the mining gates locked [Gb] and the red iron rotted
_ _ [Abm] And the rooms [Gb] smelled heavy [Abm] from _ _ drinkin' _ _ _ _
_ _ _ That [B] silent song [Gb] made the hour twice as _ _ long
As [Abm] I waited [Gb] for the sun to [Abm] come _ sinkin' _ _
_ _ _ _ _
I lived by the window [Gb] as he talked to _ himself
_ _ [Abm] The silence [Gb] of tongues it [Abm] was _ building _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Then _ [B] mornings weep, [Gb] the bed it was _ bare _
[Abm] And I's left [Gb] alone with [Abm] three children _ _ _
_ Summer _ _ _ _ is _ gone, [Gb] the ground's turning _ cold
_ [Abm] The stars [Gb] one by one [Abm] they're a _ _ -foldin' _ _ _ _
_ My children [B] will grow [Gb] as soon as they _ grow
_ Oh _ _ [Ab] there ain't nothin' [Gb]
here now [Abm] to _ hold them _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [N] _ _ _