Old Buddy Goodnight
(By Utah Phillips)
Banjo Tuned E, Capo 1, Key of G
3/4 time
G C
I was there when they opened the boxcar, we found him stone dead on
G
the floor
C G D7
Though thumbing and bumming was all of our trade no one had seen him
G
before
C G
He wore the face of a stranger lost and unseen in the crowd
C G D7
He looked so small when we carried him down wrapped in a newspaper
G shroud
The wind blows cold in Wyoming, the stars shine clear and bright
If you don't wake up tomorrow at all I guess it's old buddy goodnight
His hair was the color of winter, streaked with iron and coal
And all you could see in his soft prairie eyes was the wind and the
rain and the snow
The backs of his hands were like roadmaps, the lines on his face were
the same
And on his arm a faded tattoo, bordered a rose and a name
The wind blows cold in Wyoming, the stars shine clear and bright
If you don't wake up tomorrow at all I guess it's old buddy goodnight
Now I don't know where he came from his train was a UP freight
If there's someone waiting for him down the line, he'll be a little
bit late
Give a line for him in your paper, here's what I want you to say
There's some things worse than dying alone, and one of them's living
that way
The wind blows cold in Wyoming, the stars shine clear and bright
If you don't wake up tomorrow at all I guess it's old buddy goodnight
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