INTRO Bm D Bm D

Well, I was eighteen, my brother was twenty-one.
One Saturday evenin’ when all the work was done,
We went down to the river. Had some trot lines we’d run.

My brother Walter had a fight the week before.
Knocked a boy name Wilson through the pool hall doors.
They said you don’t mess with Wilson unless you want a war.

I put the boat in the water and I made the engine run.
I loaded the lantern against the sinkin’ sun.
And my brother Walter was loadin’ his gun…
And we went down the river...

Down past the coal docks we were runnin’ our line.
Heard some drunken boaters racin’ up behind.
It was Wilson and his cousin, had trouble on their mind.

They passed on by us, probably goin’ to tend their pot.
We headed up the river with the fish that we’d caught but,
Before we made the landing, I thought I heard a shot…
Back down the river…

Well my brother Walter fell over the side.
I couldn’t find him no matter how I tried
And I looked along the bank but couldn’t find where they hide.

Well the drugged the river, they searched it up and down.
Couldn’t find his body so they decided that he’d drowned,
But I knew better and Wilson bragged around town.

So one night I floated down right above Wilson’s shack.
I hid in the woods til I saw him walk out back.
I put a bullet in his head, dropped him in his tracks…
And we went down the river…

Down below the tressel, where the water runs slow,
I chained him to an anvil then I let him go.
And five years later, I ain’t told a soul.

I ain’t done much fishin’, hardly wet a line.
The death of my brother is still heavy on my mind.
I’ve been thinkin’ Wilson’s cousin better find a place to hide…
Cause I’m goin’ down the river…yeah, I’m goin’ down the river.
D Bm (until end of song)

“(1)
Whole Step Down Tuning

INTRO: G — Cadd9 — Em7 – D – Cadd9

Empty beer bottles
Rattle on my pistol
On the seat of my Chevy pick up truck
And I’m taking these gravel roads
As fast as my truck will go
I’m running like a scared white tail buck

It was an all night card game
With Earl Ray and Bobby
And some ol boy they worked with from Adair
That boy didn’t like me
Then he said I was cheatin
Gun shots rang out on the midnight air

I dont wanna see the day light
But my Becky’s alone at night
I wonder if shes waiting up for me

I’m gonna hide out in the bottom
Where I hunted deer and turkey
I know that swamp like the back of my hand
Hell I was born and raised here
Just wanted to be a good ol boy
Never thought I’d ever be a wanted man

But soon they gonna catch me
Aint no way around that
Cause I dont know any other place to hide
I wonder if Becky’s Bible is still in the glove box
Cause I’m sure gonna need it if that boy died

I dont wanna see the day light
But my Becky’s alone at night
I wonder if shes waiting up for me

Repeat INTRO

Sometime tomorrow morning
When I ought to be fishing
They’ll probably be hauling me in
I’ll be sittin in the jail house
No need to be wishing
I’ll ever get to fish the green river again

I’ll be prayin for some daylight
While my Becky’s alone at night
I wonder if shes waiting up for me
I Wonder if shes waiting up for me
”

Capo 3rd fret

Verse 1:
Well her hair was as black as Pike County coal,
and her lips were as red as blood on the snow.
She wore short vinyl skirts and them boots to her knees,
and she lived in the holler ‘cross the mountain from me.

Chorus 1:
Hard Candy, you’re so sweet
and I could never get enough.
Hard Candy, you’re so easy
for me to love…

Verse 2:
Wild horses couldn’t keep her old man out of jail
for bootleggin whiskey his sons helped him sale.
Well growin’ up in the holler wasn’t nothin’ by hard.
fightin’ roosters and curd(?)dogs tied up in the yard.

Chorus 2:
Hard Candy, you’re so sweet
and I could never get enough.
Hard Candy, you’re so easy
for me to love…

– repeat chorus chords –
Verse 3:
Well one night on the mountain back in the pine trees,
Candy let down her guard — she said she loved me.
We left the holler when her old man got put back in jail
and she told all her brothers to go straight to hell.

Chorus 3:
Hard Candy, you’re so sweet
and I could never get enough.
Hard Candy, you’re so easy
for me to love…

– repeat chorus chords 2x –