Chords for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Leon McDuff (Live at Farm Aid 1985)

_ _ _ We want to do a special song for tonight.
In this song I'm going to [Am] play the part of a defense attorney.
[B] I'm defending an honest man named Leon McDuff on a charge [F#] of murder.
[G] Y'all are the jury.
[G] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I come before you to plead for the life of Leon McDuff. _ _
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, _ I'm asking you to be the judge of [D] winning of [G] his life. _
_ [Em] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Now Leon [C] McDuff has worked on his daddy's farm every day since [D] the day that he [Em] was born.
_ _ Plowing in the [C] field and hoeing [Em] in the garden [C] and helping to pick [D] the cotton and the [Em] corn. _
_ _ [G] Then came the time [Bm] of the Mississippi flood [G] when all [C] of his work went [D] down the drain.
His [Em] land was parched by the [C] sun, blown by the wind, and he finally [A] washed away [Em] by the rain.
_ So Leon went to his friends [C] trying to get [Em] help from them, [C] but they're cropping [D] their money [Em] all along.
_ So Leon went to the bank and [C] tried to mortgage his home, but the bank [D] wouldn't give [Bm] Leon a loan.
_ _ [G] He could not decide [Bm] how his family could survive with no cropping, [C] no money [D] to buy food.
And [E] as he struggled with his hands, [C] trying to rework his land, a notice came and [D] said your land [G] tax is due.
_ _ Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I come before you to plead [D] for the life of Leon [G] McDuff.
_ _ [B] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Em] In an air conditioned office [C] on the other side of [E] town, there [C] sat a government [D] official with a [Em] frown.
_ Seems he'd been trying all week long to [C] find land to build a summer home, but cheap [D] river land [Bm] could not be found.
And [G] in the middle of his gloom, his [E] boss walked in the room.
He said I've [G] got some good [C] news for [A] the house you're planting.
See there's [Em] a farmer who's so [C] poor and his luck has gone so sour, he'll never [D] pay the taxes [Bm] on his land.
So you just wait a week or two until the money's overdue [C] and go [D] to the cashier [Em] down the hall.
_ Hold this deed in your [Bm] hand and [C] pay the taxes on his land.
Have this year of [D] goodly on [Bm] McDuff's Hall.
And you [G] can tell Leon to [Bm] move by the last day of July, [G] cause these taxes [C] on his land are [D]
overdue.
Tell him [E] he's gotta move [Em] away, cause [C] some taxes [Em] aren't paid, [C] and then all that [D] river land belongs to you.
_ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _
_ Same air conditioned office in about a week or two, here [C] comes the sheriff [D] saying I've got [Em] bad news.
That old Leon McDuff [C] knows he's had [E] bad luck.
He [C] says he'll try to get the [A] money but he won't [E] move.
_ [G] Well the bureaucrat jumped up and [Bm] grabbed the sheriff by the arm and [G] says we're going [C] out and get his [D] land today.
And [Em] so he and the sheriff drove [C] on out to [Em] Leon's [C] farm to tell [A] the McDuffs to [E] move away.
And there stood Leon on his land with a [C] shotgun in his hand.
His eyes were narrow [D] beneath the brim of his [Em] hat. _
He said I've worked hard on this land [C] as a boy and as [Em] a man, and [C] I'll lose it now [D] to no damn [Em] _ _
bureaucrat.
[G] Well the bureaucrat got mad and he [E] grabbed the gun in Leon's hand, and [G] the scrub of an [C] explosion [D] cracked the air.
_ [E] Well the smoke and [Bm] dust had cleared [C] and a ringing left [Em] their ears.
[C] The sheriff [D] he lay dying [Em] on the ground.
Yeah [C] it was the sheriff [Bm] who lay dying on the ground.
_ _ [C] _ _ [D] _ _ [Bm] _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ [D] _ _ [Bm] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ [D] _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Em] _ _
_ Here on this table I will lay this [C] here gun [Em] exhibit A.
And there's two sets [D] of fingerprints that [E] you can't even see.
[Bm] But other hands are here, [G] none perceived [Em] behind it here.
[C] To have triggered [D] all this morbid [Em] tragedy.
_ [D] And now [G] to me it's still unclear [E] what really caused the problem [G] here.
There's just too [C] much you've got to [D] know before you know enough.
[E] And though we can't find out today [C] just where all the [Em] guilt should lay, [G] it shouldn't [D] be on Leon [G] McDuff.
_ _ Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I come before you to plead for the [D] life of Leon [G] McDuff.
_ _ Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I'm asking you to leave each other [D] when we're enough. _ _ _ _ _
[C] It is enough.
I think it's just about [Em]
enough.
I think it's just _ _ _ _ _ _ [E]
about enough.
_ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [B] _ _ _ _ _ Thank you very