Chords for The Story of Tom Dooley
Tempo:
121.475 bpm
Chords used:
B
E
F#
G#
G#m
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Jam Along & Learn...
buried damage deep in their psyches and it comes [E] out in many ways in the song.
head Tom Dooley, oh let's hang your head and cry.
little R.E. Foster, poor boy you're bound to die.
met her on [F#] the mire, I took her [B] life.
the hillside and I stobbed her [E] with my knife.
[B] So it's hang [G#] your head Tom Dooley, oh hang your head and cry.
Tom Dooley, poor boy you're bound to die.
who lives in the high mountains near Loon, North Carolina.
head Tom Dooley, oh let's hang your head and cry.
little R.E. Foster, poor boy you're bound to die.
met her on [F#] the mire, I took her [B] life.
the hillside and I stobbed her [E] with my knife.
[B] So it's hang [G#] your head Tom Dooley, oh hang your head and cry.
Tom Dooley, poor boy you're bound to die.
who lives in the high mountains near Loon, North Carolina.
100% ➙ 121BPM
B
E
F#
G#
G#m
B
E
F#
buried _ damage deep in their psyches and it comes [E] out in many ways in the song.
Hang your head Tom Dooley, _ oh let's hang your head and cry.
_ _ Kill little R.E. Foster, poor boy you're bound to die.
_ _ _ _ _ I met her on [F#] the mire, _ _ _ _ I took her [B] life.
_ _ Met her on the hillside and I stobbed her [E] with my knife.
_ _ [B] So it's hang [G#] your head Tom Dooley, _ oh hang your head and cry.
_ _ _ Hang your head Tom Dooley, poor boy _ _ _ _ _ you're bound to die.
I'm going to give it to the [F#] world.
This is Frank Proffitt Jr.
who lives in the high mountains near Loon, North Carolina.
[B] _ _ _ [G#m] And it was his father, _ Frank Proffitt, who sang it for my friends the Warners when they came down to the mountains
ballad hunting back in 1938.
_ I learned it from the Warners and I sang it all over the country and on my radio shows
and it got to be known that way and then sometime later on the Kingston [B] Trio picked it up and it's now a world [B] song. _ _
_ This time tomorrow, _ _ _ reckon where I'll be. _ _
_ [G#m] In a lonesome [E] valley, hanging on a white oak tree.
_ This is a story from _ [G#] _ _ the day of Tom Dooley's _ execution, May 2nd, 1868.
[C#] _
Now the song _ is a record of a true event. _ _ _
_ Tom Dooley was a wild young buck, veteran of the _ Civil War.
He was going with two or three women at the same time and _ [G] one of them, it said, Laura Foster, _ gave him syphilis
[C] and _ he, which [B] he inadvertently passed on to another of the women named Ann Melton, whom he was much closer to.
And she, when she [F#] found that out, she insisted that they murder Laura Foster in vengeance.
_ [E] Hang your head Tom Dooley, oh hang your head and cry.
_ [B] _ _
Hang [E] your head Tom Dooley, poor boy you're bound. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
He [B] took it, he's done it himself.
Now according to what I hear, the other woman's wife done it.
_ Tom Dooley really didn't kill her.
But he took wrath on himself, what my grandpa [B] and my grandma always told us.
Was he going with both of them and had them both in crime?
Yeah, he was going with both at the same time.
I mean he was with them both at different times.
Had them both in crime?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Him and Ann Melton killed her?
Yeah, that's what I heard.
Ann Melton was married, already married.
He's already married?
James Melton.
She was a foster, I think she's Laura's first cousin.
Yeah, that's what we heard from his kids, you know, growing up. _
_ I don't think none of them had the morals of an alley cat.
_ Very little morals in any of them, in _ restraint with any of the things that he indulged in.
I'd say Frank's got it about the belt. _
Hang your head Tom Dooley, _ oh let's hang your head and cry.
_ _ Kill little R.E. Foster, poor boy you're bound to die.
_ _ _ _ _ I met her on [F#] the mire, _ _ _ _ I took her [B] life.
_ _ Met her on the hillside and I stobbed her [E] with my knife.
_ _ [B] So it's hang [G#] your head Tom Dooley, _ oh hang your head and cry.
_ _ _ Hang your head Tom Dooley, poor boy _ _ _ _ _ you're bound to die.
I'm going to give it to the [F#] world.
This is Frank Proffitt Jr.
who lives in the high mountains near Loon, North Carolina.
[B] _ _ _ [G#m] And it was his father, _ Frank Proffitt, who sang it for my friends the Warners when they came down to the mountains
ballad hunting back in 1938.
_ I learned it from the Warners and I sang it all over the country and on my radio shows
and it got to be known that way and then sometime later on the Kingston [B] Trio picked it up and it's now a world [B] song. _ _
_ This time tomorrow, _ _ _ reckon where I'll be. _ _
_ [G#m] In a lonesome [E] valley, hanging on a white oak tree.
_ This is a story from _ [G#] _ _ the day of Tom Dooley's _ execution, May 2nd, 1868.
[C#] _
Now the song _ is a record of a true event. _ _ _
_ Tom Dooley was a wild young buck, veteran of the _ Civil War.
He was going with two or three women at the same time and _ [G] one of them, it said, Laura Foster, _ gave him syphilis
[C] and _ he, which [B] he inadvertently passed on to another of the women named Ann Melton, whom he was much closer to.
And she, when she [F#] found that out, she insisted that they murder Laura Foster in vengeance.
_ [E] Hang your head Tom Dooley, oh hang your head and cry.
_ [B] _ _
Hang [E] your head Tom Dooley, poor boy you're bound. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
He [B] took it, he's done it himself.
Now according to what I hear, the other woman's wife done it.
_ Tom Dooley really didn't kill her.
But he took wrath on himself, what my grandpa [B] and my grandma always told us.
Was he going with both of them and had them both in crime?
Yeah, he was going with both at the same time.
I mean he was with them both at different times.
Had them both in crime?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Him and Ann Melton killed her?
Yeah, that's what I heard.
Ann Melton was married, already married.
He's already married?
James Melton.
She was a foster, I think she's Laura's first cousin.
Yeah, that's what we heard from his kids, you know, growing up. _
_ I don't think none of them had the morals of an alley cat.
_ Very little morals in any of them, in _ restraint with any of the things that he indulged in.
I'd say Frank's got it about the belt. _
