Johnny Cash

I Never Picked Cotton

Johnny Cash


Tom: E


intro:  D|------------0---------
        A|--0-(1)-(2)---0-------
        E|----------------3(b)-0
[chorus:]
E                *
I Never Picked Cotton
        A      E          A       E          A      E
Like my mother did and my brother did and my sister did 
       A          E   **B7           E
and my daddy died young workinF in a coal mine
* E---3-3-0---
**A-0-1-2--
  E--------
(up to F and play that chord until...)
When I was just a baby, too little for the cotton sack
I played in the dirt while the others worked till they couldnFt 
straighten up their backs
(up to F#...)
and I made myself a promise when I was old enought to run
that IFd never stay a single day in that Oklahoma sun, but
(...back down to E)
[chorus:]
Folks said that I grew up early and the farm couldnFt hold me then
so I stole ten bucks and a pickup truck and I never went back again
and it was fast cars and whiskey, long legged girls and fun
I had everything that money could bring and I took it all with a gun
but 
[chorus:]
It was Saturday night in Memphis when a redneck grabbed my shirt
He said go back to your cotton sack, I left him lyinF in the dirt
and theyFll take me in the morning to the gallows just outside
and in the time I got there ainFt a heck of a lot 
I can look back on with pride
but
[chorus:]
(also, on the chorus, it sounds good if you strum an Em 
and hammer on the G string to make an E on the part before 
you go into the verse)