Chords for The Orphan Train (U. Utah Phillips)
Tempo:
155.3 bpm
Chords used:
D
G
A
Eb
Ab
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[N]
Back in the [A] 1850s in the big cities in [D] the United States,
Baltimore, [E] Boston, and New York, [A] the streets were [Eb] not paved
and they [Ab] were full of mud and they were also [Bb] full
of homeless orphan [A] children, thousands of [Abm] them trying
to make their [D] living on the streets and survive
in the cold winters of the eastern climate.
[F] In 1850, a clergyman [Ab] came down the steps of a [F] brownstone
in New York City [Bb] and saw these homeless [Abm] children and conceived
of the idea of the orphan train.
[A] And for the ensuing 79 [Bb] years, all those homeless kids
and orphan kids and foundlings [Ab] and your kids and mine
if they [G] were in the wrong place at the wrong [Eb] time,
were given a bath and a Bible [Ab] and put on a train [Db] and sent
[A] out to the ranchers and the farmers in the Midwest
who needed more hands on the farm.
[E] Some [A] 250 [Gb],000 American children rode the orphan train
from [Eb] 1850 to [D] 1929.
Some 2 [Db] million Americans descend
[Gb] from those orphan train riders.
All brothers [G] and sisters were placed in different homes.
[Gbm] I imagine a lot of [Ab] lives were saved by the orphan [D] train
and a lot [E] of children were probably [Eb] put
in some very dangerous and abusive situations.
And about, I don't know, [Ab] about 15 years ago,
[G] the late great [A] Utah [Eb] Phillips, the golden voice
of the great southwest, [Db] was staying in a hotel
[Ab] in northeast [Db] Arkansas and he encountered a group of [Eb] people
from the orphan train community and he even met some
of the old [F] timers who had ridden the orphan train back during the
first World War.
And he interviewed them and he asked them a lot of questions
and he asked them the most important question.
He said, is there a song about the orphan [G] train?
And they said no.
And he made this song [Ab] for them.
He didn't even copyright [G] it.
He made it a gift to all the people
in the orphan train community so [E] they would have a song.
Because, you know, these folk [A] songs are almost like books
in the stacks at the [Eb] library and every [Ab] now and then you come along a stack
[A] and you see a space where [G] there's a book [D] missing.
[E] We needed a folk song about the [D] orphan train.
We didn't have one so let me sing you Mr.
[E] Phillips' song,
The Orphan Train.
[D]
[G]
[D]
[G] Once I [D] had a darling mother [Em] but I can't recall her name.
I [Gb] had a baby brother who I'll never see again.
[D] For the children's home is sending [G] us out on the orphan train
to try and [Eb] find someone to take [D] us in.
Take us [Dm] in.
[Db] We have a [D] road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
We need a [A] home.
We need a name.
Take [D] us in.
[G] Oh, won't you be our [Gb] kin?
We are looking for someone [D] to take us in.
[G]
[Em] [D]
I've stolen [Gb] from the poor box and I've [A] begged the city streets.
[Eb] I've slumped the bars and [D] pool rooms for a little by tea.
In my daddy's [G] old green jacket [Gb] with these rags [G] upon my feet.
I've been looking for someone to [D] take me in.
Take us in.
We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
[A] We need a home.
We need a name.
[D] Take us in.
[G] Oh, won't you be our kin?
We [Gb] are looking for someone to take [D] us in.
[G] [D]
Now the children's home, they gathered us, me and all the rest.
[A] They taught us to sit quietly until the food was blessed.
Then they put us [D] on that orphan train,
[G] sent us way out west to try and [A] find someone to take us [D] in.
Take us in.
We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us [E] in.
We need a home.
We need a [D] name.
Take us in.
[G]
Won't you be our kin?
We are looking for someone to take [D] us in.
[G] [D]
Now the farmers and their families,
they came from [E] miles around.
We'd line up at the platform [D] of the station in each town.
One by one, we parted like [G] some living lost and found.
One by one, we all were [D] taken in.
Take us in.
We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
[Gbm] We need a home.
We need a name.
Take [D] us in.
[G] Won't you be our kin?
We are looking for someone [D] to take us in.
[G]
[D]
Now there's many a good doctor [A] or a teacher in your school.
There's many a good preacher who can preach the golden rule.
[Dm] Started out an orphan standing in [G] the freezing rain,
whose life began out on the [D] orphan train.
Take us in.
We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
We need [Gbm] a home.
We need a name.
Take [D] us in.
[G] Won't you be our kin?
We are looking for someone to [D] take us in.
[G]
Back in the [A] 1850s in the big cities in [D] the United States,
Baltimore, [E] Boston, and New York, [A] the streets were [Eb] not paved
and they [Ab] were full of mud and they were also [Bb] full
of homeless orphan [A] children, thousands of [Abm] them trying
to make their [D] living on the streets and survive
in the cold winters of the eastern climate.
[F] In 1850, a clergyman [Ab] came down the steps of a [F] brownstone
in New York City [Bb] and saw these homeless [Abm] children and conceived
of the idea of the orphan train.
[A] And for the ensuing 79 [Bb] years, all those homeless kids
and orphan kids and foundlings [Ab] and your kids and mine
if they [G] were in the wrong place at the wrong [Eb] time,
were given a bath and a Bible [Ab] and put on a train [Db] and sent
[A] out to the ranchers and the farmers in the Midwest
who needed more hands on the farm.
[E] Some [A] 250 [Gb],000 American children rode the orphan train
from [Eb] 1850 to [D] 1929.
Some 2 [Db] million Americans descend
[Gb] from those orphan train riders.
All brothers [G] and sisters were placed in different homes.
[Gbm] I imagine a lot of [Ab] lives were saved by the orphan [D] train
and a lot [E] of children were probably [Eb] put
in some very dangerous and abusive situations.
And about, I don't know, [Ab] about 15 years ago,
[G] the late great [A] Utah [Eb] Phillips, the golden voice
of the great southwest, [Db] was staying in a hotel
[Ab] in northeast [Db] Arkansas and he encountered a group of [Eb] people
from the orphan train community and he even met some
of the old [F] timers who had ridden the orphan train back during the
first World War.
And he interviewed them and he asked them a lot of questions
and he asked them the most important question.
He said, is there a song about the orphan [G] train?
And they said no.
And he made this song [Ab] for them.
He didn't even copyright [G] it.
He made it a gift to all the people
in the orphan train community so [E] they would have a song.
Because, you know, these folk [A] songs are almost like books
in the stacks at the [Eb] library and every [Ab] now and then you come along a stack
[A] and you see a space where [G] there's a book [D] missing.
[E] We needed a folk song about the [D] orphan train.
We didn't have one so let me sing you Mr.
[E] Phillips' song,
The Orphan Train.
[D]
[G]
[D]
[G] Once I [D] had a darling mother [Em] but I can't recall her name.
I [Gb] had a baby brother who I'll never see again.
[D] For the children's home is sending [G] us out on the orphan train
to try and [Eb] find someone to take [D] us in.
Take us [Dm] in.
[Db] We have a [D] road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
We need a [A] home.
We need a name.
Take [D] us in.
[G] Oh, won't you be our [Gb] kin?
We are looking for someone [D] to take us in.
[G]
[Em] [D]
I've stolen [Gb] from the poor box and I've [A] begged the city streets.
[Eb] I've slumped the bars and [D] pool rooms for a little by tea.
In my daddy's [G] old green jacket [Gb] with these rags [G] upon my feet.
I've been looking for someone to [D] take me in.
Take us in.
We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
[A] We need a home.
We need a name.
[D] Take us in.
[G] Oh, won't you be our kin?
We [Gb] are looking for someone to take [D] us in.
[G] [D]
Now the children's home, they gathered us, me and all the rest.
[A] They taught us to sit quietly until the food was blessed.
Then they put us [D] on that orphan train,
[G] sent us way out west to try and [A] find someone to take us [D] in.
Take us in.
We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us [E] in.
We need a home.
We need a [D] name.
Take us in.
[G]
Won't you be our kin?
We are looking for someone to take [D] us in.
[G] [D]
Now the farmers and their families,
they came from [E] miles around.
We'd line up at the platform [D] of the station in each town.
One by one, we parted like [G] some living lost and found.
One by one, we all were [D] taken in.
Take us in.
We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
[Gbm] We need a home.
We need a name.
Take [D] us in.
[G] Won't you be our kin?
We are looking for someone [D] to take us in.
[G]
[D]
Now there's many a good doctor [A] or a teacher in your school.
There's many a good preacher who can preach the golden rule.
[Dm] Started out an orphan standing in [G] the freezing rain,
whose life began out on the [D] orphan train.
Take us in.
We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
We need [Gbm] a home.
We need a name.
Take [D] us in.
[G] Won't you be our kin?
We are looking for someone to [D] take us in.
[G]
Key:
D
G
A
Eb
Ab
D
G
A
[N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Back in the _ [A] 1850s in the big cities in [D] the United States,
Baltimore, [E] Boston, and New York, [A] the streets were [Eb] not paved
and they [Ab] were full of mud and they were also [Bb] full
of homeless orphan [A] children, thousands of [Abm] them trying
to make their [D] living on the streets and survive
in the cold winters of the eastern climate.
_ [F] In 1850, a clergyman [Ab] came down the steps of a [F] brownstone
in New York City [Bb] and saw these homeless [Abm] children and conceived
of the idea of the orphan train.
[A] And for the ensuing 79 [Bb] years, all those homeless kids
and orphan kids and foundlings [Ab] and your kids and mine
if they [G] were in the wrong place at the wrong [Eb] time,
were given a bath and a Bible [Ab] and put on a train [Db] and sent
[A] out to the ranchers and the farmers in the Midwest
who needed more hands on the farm.
[E] Some [A] 250 [Gb],000 American children rode the orphan train
from [Eb] 1850 to _ [D] 1929.
Some 2 [Db] million Americans descend
[Gb] from those orphan train riders. _
All brothers [G] and sisters were placed in different homes.
[Gbm] I imagine a lot of [Ab] lives were saved by the orphan [D] train
and a lot [E] of children were probably [Eb] put
in some very dangerous and abusive situations.
_ _ And about, _ I don't know, [Ab] about 15 years ago,
[G] the late great [A] Utah [Eb] Phillips, the golden voice
of the great southwest, [Db] was staying in a hotel
[Ab] in northeast [Db] Arkansas and he encountered a group of [Eb] people
from the orphan train community and he even met some
of the old [F] timers who had ridden the orphan train back during the
first World War.
And he interviewed them and he asked them a lot of questions
and he asked them the most important question.
He said, is there a song about the orphan [G] train?
And they said no.
And he made this song [Ab] for them.
He didn't even copyright [G] it.
He made it a gift to all the people
in the orphan train community so [E] they would have a song.
Because, you know, these folk [A] songs are almost like books
in the stacks at the [Eb] library and every [Ab] now and then you come along a stack
[A] and you see a space where [G] there's a book [D] missing.
[E] We needed a folk song about the [D] orphan train.
We didn't have one so let me sing you Mr.
[E] Phillips' song,
The Orphan Train.
[D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] Once I [D] had a darling mother [Em] but I can't recall her name.
I [Gb] had a baby brother who I'll never see again.
[D] For the children's home is sending [G] us out on the orphan train
to try and [Eb] find someone to take [D] us in. _ _
Take us [Dm] in.
[Db] We have a [D] road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
We need a [A] home.
We need a name.
Take [D] us in.
_ [G] Oh, won't you be our [Gb] kin?
We are looking for someone [D] to take us in. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ [Em] _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ I've stolen [Gb] from the poor box and I've [A] begged the city streets.
[Eb] I've slumped the bars and [D] pool rooms for a little by tea.
In my daddy's [G] old green jacket [Gb] with these rags [G] upon my feet.
I've been looking for someone to [D] take me in.
_ _ Take us in.
_ We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
[A] We need a home.
We need a name.
[D] Take us in.
[G] Oh, won't you be our kin?
We [Gb] are looking for someone to take [D] us in. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Now the children's home, they gathered us, me and all the rest.
[A] They taught us to sit quietly until the food was blessed.
Then they put us [D] on that orphan train,
[G] sent us way out west to try and [A] find someone to take us [D] in.
_ Take us in.
We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us [E] in.
We need a home.
We need a [D] name.
Take us in.
[G]
Won't you be our kin?
We are looking for someone to take [D] us in. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Now the farmers and their families,
they came from [E] miles around.
We'd line up at the platform [D] of the station in each town.
One by one, we parted like [G] some living lost and found.
One by one, we all were [D] taken in. _
Take us in.
_ We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
[Gbm] We need a home.
We need a name.
Take [D] us in.
_ [G] Won't you be our kin?
We are looking for someone [D] to take us in. _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Now there's many a good doctor [A] or a teacher in your school.
There's many a good preacher who can preach the golden rule.
[Dm] Started out an orphan standing in [G] the freezing rain,
whose life began out on the [D] orphan train.
_ _ Take us in.
We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
We need [Gbm] a home.
We need a name.
Take [D] us in.
_ [G] Won't you be our kin?
We are looking for someone to [D] take us in. _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Back in the _ [A] 1850s in the big cities in [D] the United States,
Baltimore, [E] Boston, and New York, [A] the streets were [Eb] not paved
and they [Ab] were full of mud and they were also [Bb] full
of homeless orphan [A] children, thousands of [Abm] them trying
to make their [D] living on the streets and survive
in the cold winters of the eastern climate.
_ [F] In 1850, a clergyman [Ab] came down the steps of a [F] brownstone
in New York City [Bb] and saw these homeless [Abm] children and conceived
of the idea of the orphan train.
[A] And for the ensuing 79 [Bb] years, all those homeless kids
and orphan kids and foundlings [Ab] and your kids and mine
if they [G] were in the wrong place at the wrong [Eb] time,
were given a bath and a Bible [Ab] and put on a train [Db] and sent
[A] out to the ranchers and the farmers in the Midwest
who needed more hands on the farm.
[E] Some [A] 250 [Gb],000 American children rode the orphan train
from [Eb] 1850 to _ [D] 1929.
Some 2 [Db] million Americans descend
[Gb] from those orphan train riders. _
All brothers [G] and sisters were placed in different homes.
[Gbm] I imagine a lot of [Ab] lives were saved by the orphan [D] train
and a lot [E] of children were probably [Eb] put
in some very dangerous and abusive situations.
_ _ And about, _ I don't know, [Ab] about 15 years ago,
[G] the late great [A] Utah [Eb] Phillips, the golden voice
of the great southwest, [Db] was staying in a hotel
[Ab] in northeast [Db] Arkansas and he encountered a group of [Eb] people
from the orphan train community and he even met some
of the old [F] timers who had ridden the orphan train back during the
first World War.
And he interviewed them and he asked them a lot of questions
and he asked them the most important question.
He said, is there a song about the orphan [G] train?
And they said no.
And he made this song [Ab] for them.
He didn't even copyright [G] it.
He made it a gift to all the people
in the orphan train community so [E] they would have a song.
Because, you know, these folk [A] songs are almost like books
in the stacks at the [Eb] library and every [Ab] now and then you come along a stack
[A] and you see a space where [G] there's a book [D] missing.
[E] We needed a folk song about the [D] orphan train.
We didn't have one so let me sing you Mr.
[E] Phillips' song,
The Orphan Train.
[D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] Once I [D] had a darling mother [Em] but I can't recall her name.
I [Gb] had a baby brother who I'll never see again.
[D] For the children's home is sending [G] us out on the orphan train
to try and [Eb] find someone to take [D] us in. _ _
Take us [Dm] in.
[Db] We have a [D] road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
We need a [A] home.
We need a name.
Take [D] us in.
_ [G] Oh, won't you be our [Gb] kin?
We are looking for someone [D] to take us in. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ [Em] _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ I've stolen [Gb] from the poor box and I've [A] begged the city streets.
[Eb] I've slumped the bars and [D] pool rooms for a little by tea.
In my daddy's [G] old green jacket [Gb] with these rags [G] upon my feet.
I've been looking for someone to [D] take me in.
_ _ Take us in.
_ We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
[A] We need a home.
We need a name.
[D] Take us in.
[G] Oh, won't you be our kin?
We [Gb] are looking for someone to take [D] us in. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Now the children's home, they gathered us, me and all the rest.
[A] They taught us to sit quietly until the food was blessed.
Then they put us [D] on that orphan train,
[G] sent us way out west to try and [A] find someone to take us [D] in.
_ Take us in.
We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us [E] in.
We need a home.
We need a [D] name.
Take us in.
[G]
Won't you be our kin?
We are looking for someone to take [D] us in. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Now the farmers and their families,
they came from [E] miles around.
We'd line up at the platform [D] of the station in each town.
One by one, we parted like [G] some living lost and found.
One by one, we all were [D] taken in. _
Take us in.
_ We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
[Gbm] We need a home.
We need a name.
Take [D] us in.
_ [G] Won't you be our kin?
We are looking for someone [D] to take us in. _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Now there's many a good doctor [A] or a teacher in your school.
There's many a good preacher who can preach the golden rule.
[Dm] Started out an orphan standing in [G] the freezing rain,
whose life began out on the [D] orphan train.
_ _ Take us in.
We have a road, the orphan train.
Take us in.
We need [Gbm] a home.
We need a name.
Take [D] us in.
_ [G] Won't you be our kin?
We are looking for someone to [D] take us in. _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _