North Country Blues

[Verse 1]
Am         Am                             G
  Come an' gather 'round friends and I'll tell ya a tale
            Am          G           Am
Of when the red iron ore pits ran a-plenty
                                         G
But the cardboard-filled windows and old men on the benches
          Am               G        Am
Tell you now that the whole town is empty

[Verse 2]
       Am
In the north end of town,
       G
my own children have grown
      Am    G             Am
Well I  was raised on the other
In the wee hours of youth,
   G
my mother took sick
     Am           G         Am
And I  was brought up by my brother

[Verse 3]
    Am                     G
The iron ore poured as the years passed the door
     Am                G                  Am
The drag lines and the shovels they was a-hummin'
                              G
'Til one day my brother failed to come home
     Am        G        Am
The same as my father before him

[Verse 4]
       Am                          G
Well a long winter's wait from the winda' I watched
   Am           G                 Am
My friends they couldn'ta been kinder
                              G
And my schooling was cut as I quit in the spring
      Am      G         Am
To marry John Thomas, a miner

[Verse 5]
Oh,
    Am                         G
the years passed again and the givin' was good
         Am           G               Am
With the lunch bucket filled every season
What with three babies born,
     G
the work was cut down
     Am           G             Am
To a half a day's shift with no reason

[Verse 6]
              Am                   G
Then the shaft  was soon shut and more work was cut
         Am             G           Am
And the fire in the air, it felt frozen
                                     G
'Til a man come to speak and he said in one week
     Am      G         Am
That number eleven was closin'

[Verse 7]
        Am
They complained in the East,
        G
they're payin' too high
     Am            G                 Am
They say that your ore ain't worth a-diggin'
                                     G
That it's much cheaper down in the South American towns
          Am            G        Am
Where the miners work almost for nothin'

[Verse 8]
       Am                          G
So the minin' gates locked and the red iron rotted
        Am           G          Am
And the room smelled heavy from drinkin'
                                  G
When the sad silent song made the hour twice as long
    Am               G        Am
As I  waited for the sun to go  sinking

[Verse 9]
  Am                         G
I lived by the window as he talked to himself
     Am         G              Am
This silence of tongues it was buildin'
'Til one morning's wake,
    G
the bed it was bare
       Am          G           Am
And I's  left alone with three children

[Verse 10]
    Am
The summer is gone,
       G
the ground's turning cold
    Am            G                Am
The stores one by one they're a-foldin'
My children will go
        G
As soon as they grow
          Am                G           Am
For there ain't nothin' here now to hold  them