Jason Isbell

Live Oak

Jason Isbell


Tom: Dm

          Dm            Am7                Fmaj7
Could it be the man who did the things I'm living down

[Verse 1]
       Am                     C/B      C
I was rougher than the timber shipping out of Fond du Lac
       Dm              Am7             Fmaj7
When I headed south at seventeen, the sheriff on my back
    Am                 C/B    C
I'd never held a lover in my arms or in my gaze,
      Dm            Am7         Fmaj7
So I found another victim every couple days

[Verse 2]
        Am                        C/B     C        
But the night I fell in love with her, I made my weakness known
       Dm               Am7             Fmaj7
To the fighters and the farmers digging dusty fields alone
    Am                 C/B    C
The jealous innuendos of the lonely-hearted men
       Dm                 Am7           Fmaj7
Let me know what kind of country I was sleeping in

[Verse 3]
          Am                    C/B      C
Well you couldn't stay a loner on the plains before the war
        Dm                 Am7            Fmaj7
When my neighbors took to slightin' me, I had to ask what for
  Am                   C/B      C
Rumors of my wickedness had reached our little town
           Dm              Am7            Fmaj7
Soon she'd heard about the boys I used to hang around

[Verse 4]
        Am                           C/B      C
We'd robbed a great-lakes freighter, killed a couple men aboard
       Dm                  Am7                Fmaj7
When I told her, her eyes flickered like the sharp steel of a sword
        Am                         C/B      C
All the things that she'd suspected, I'd expected her to fear
         Dm                 Am7           Fmaj7
Was the truth that drew her to me when I landed here

[Chorus]
        Am                     C/B      C
There's a man who walks beside me he is who I used to be,
       Dm            Am7             Fmaj7
And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me
        Am                     C/B      C
And I wonder who she's pining for on nights I'm not around
         Dm              Am7               Fmaj7
Could it be the man who did the things I'm living down

[Instrumental]
Am  C/B  C
Dm  Am7  Fmaj7 (x2)

[Verse 5]
        Am                            C/B      C
Well I carved her cross from live oak and her box from short-leaf pine,
       Dm          Am7                 Fmaj7
And buried her so deep, she'd touch the water table line
        Am                  C/B      C
And picked up what I needed and I headed south again
       Dm               Am7          Fmaj7
To myself, I wondered, "Would I ever find another friend"

[Outro]
        Am                         C/B     C
There's a man who walks beside her, he is who I used to be,
       Dm            Am7           Fmaj7
And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me