Cherokee Bend Chords

Lyrics & chords

[Verse 1]
[Em]
His father was a man
who could never understand
The [G]shame on a red man's face
So they [Em]lived in the hills and they
never came down
But to [Bsus4]trade in the white
man's [Em]place

[Verse 2]
[Em]It was early in the spring when
the snow had disappeared
They came [G]down with a bag of skins
In the [Em]fall of the year of 1910
Daddy [Bsus4]died by the rope
down in Cherokee [Em]Bend.
[Am]Daddy didn't like what the

[Verse 3]
[Am]
white man said
'Bout the [B]dirty little kid at his side
[Am]Daddy didn't like what the
white man did
Nor the [Bsus4]deal or the
[B]way that he lied
There was [Em]blood on the floor of
the government store
When the [G]men took his daddy away
But the [Em]boy stayed back till
he come to his end
And he [Bsus4]run like the wind
from [B]Cherokee [Em]Bend.

[Verse 4]
[Em]
Now the mother was alone and the
winter was at hand
And she [G]prayed to her spirit kin
It was [Em]warm in the lodge
in the Kentucky hills
On the [Bsus4]day when the boy c[Em]ame in

[Verse 5]
Then [Em]a blizzard came down and
it covered up the door

[Verse 6]
Till they [G]thought that it
never would end
And he [Em]told her the tale
of the terrible affair
In the [Bsus4]government store down
[Em]in Cherokee Bend
[Am]Daddy didn't like what the

[Verse 7]
[Am]
white man said
'Bout the [B]dirty little kid at his side
[Am]Daddy didn't like what the
white man did
Nor the [B]deal or the way that he lied
For [Em]three long days

[Verse 8]
and three long nights
They [G]wept and they mourned and then
She re[Em]turned to her work
and her weavin'
And they [Bsus4]tried to forget
about Cherokee [Em]Bend

[Verse 9]
[Em]
Now the boy wasn't big but
he hunted what he could
And they [G]lived for a time that way
But the [Em]food run low and the
meat went bad
And she [B]said to the boy one [Em]day

[Verse 10]
I'm [Em]leaving tonight and
I never will return
>From the [G]land of my Spirit Kin
You must [Em]take what you need
and trade what you can
For a [B]Red Man's grave
down in Cherokee [Em]Bend
It [Am]wasn't very long till she

[Verse 11]
[Am]
closed her eyes
And he [B]wrapped her in a robe
He [Am]found her a place on the side of the hill
And he [B]buried her in the snow
[Em]Early in the spring he was

[Verse 12]
[Em]
seen in the town
With his [G]load looking ragged and thin
Not a [Em]year had gone by till he
stood once again
In the [B]government store down
in Cherokee [Em]Bend

[Verse 13]
[Em]
He was ten years tall and a Redskin too
So he [G]hadn't much face to save
And the [Em]men sat around and they
laughed and they clowned
At the [Bsus4]talk of a criminal's grave
[Em]Then the

[Verse 14]
man from the east didn't
smile when he said
You're the [G]son of that Indian scum
If you [Em]value your hide
then you better abide
By the [Bsus4]white man's rules
here in Cherokee [Em]Bend.
[Am]Daddy didn't like what the

[Verse 15]
[Am]
white man said
'Bout the [B]dirty little kid at his side
[Am]Daddy didn't like what the
white man did
Nor the [B]deal or the way that he lied
And he [Em]spit on the floor of the

[Verse 16]
[Em]
government store
And it [G]served him to no good end
At the [Em]close of the day they
had taken him away
To the [Bsus4]white man's school
down at Cherokee [Em]Bend

[Verse 17]
[Em]
It's been 21 years since
the boy disappeared
Where he [G]run to, nobody knows
But they [Em]say he fell in with
a man named Jim
And he [B]rides in the [Bsus4]rodeo s[Em]

[Verse 18]
And [Em]they say he returns all
alone to a place
Hidden [G]deep in the Kentucky glen
And it's [Em]pretty well known who
hauled up the stone
To the [B]grave on the hill above
[Em]Cherokee Bend
[Am]Daddy didn't like what the

[Verse 19]
[Am]
white man said
'Bout the [B]dirty little kid at his side
[Am]Daddy didn't like what the
white man did
Nor the [B]deal or the way that he lied
There was [Em]blood on the floor of the

[Verse 20]
[Em]
government store
When the [G]men took his daddy away
[Em]It was 1910 and they never
had a friend
When he [Bsus4]died by the rope[B]
down at Cherokee [Em]Bend
It was 1910 and they never had a friend
When he [B]died by the rope
down at Cherokee [Em]Bend