The Carter Family

Prisoner's Song

The Carter Family


Tom: C

           C          C7        F
    Oh, I wish I had someone to love me,
         G          G7           C
    oh, someone to call me their own.
                      C7        F
    Oh, I wish I had someone to live with,
            G        G7           C
    for I'm tired of living all alone.

               C        C7            F
    Please do meet me tonight in the moonlight,
               G         G7         C
    please do meet me tonight all alone,
                      C7              F
    for I have a sad story I'll tell you,
             G           G7         C
    it's a story that's never been told.

             C              C7         F
    I'll be carried to the new jail tomorrow,
            G        G7      C
    leaving my poor darling alone,
                         C7         F
    with the cold prison bars all around me,
            G        G7          C
    and my head on a pillow of stone.

           C             C7         F
    But I have a great ship on the ocean,
         G           G7          C
    all mounted with silver and gold,
                       C7             F
    and before my poor darling would suffer
                G      G7            C
    this ship would be anchored and sold.

           C          C7           F
    Oh,  if I had the wings of a swallow,
           G          G7             C
    over these prison walls I would fly,
                        C7               F
    I would  fly to the arms of my poor darling,
          G           G7            C
    and there I'd be willing for to die.

               C        C7            F
    Please do meet me tonight in the moonlight,
               G         G7         C
    please do meet me tonight all alone,
                      C7              F
    for I have a sad story I'll tell you,
             G           G7         C   F C
    it's a story that's never been told.