Tom Waits

16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six

Tom Waits


Tom: B

C#m7 C#m

[Verse 1]
          C#m                              C#m7  C#m
I plugged 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
        C#m                                    C#m7  C#m
And the Black Crow snuck through a hole in the sky
     F#                                    F#7  F#
So I spent all my buttons on an old pack mule
          C#m                                     C#m7  C#m
Oh, and I made me a ladder from a pawn shop marimba
       G#7
And I leaned it up against a dandelion tree
F#
Leaned it up against a dandelion tree
C#m                                   C#m7  C#m
Leaned it up against a dandelion tree


[Verse 2]
          C#m                                  C#m7  C#m
I'm gonna cook them feathers on a tire iron spit
      C#m                                    C#m7  C#m
And I filled me a satchel full of old pig corn
      F#                                   F#7  F#
And I beat me a billy from an old French horn
          C#m
Oh, and I kicked that mule to the top of the tree
C#m7
Kicked that mule to the top of the tree
      G#7                                        F#
And I blew me a hole 'bout the size of a kickdrum
      C#m                                   C#m7  C#m
And I cut me a switch from a long branch elbow


[Chorus]
          C#m
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
C#m7         C#m
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six
C#m
Whittle you into kindlin'
C#m7        C#m
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six


[Verse 3]
        C#m                                 C#m7  C#m
Well, I slept in the holler of a dry creek bed
      C#m                                    C#m7
And I tore out the bucket from a red Corvette
C#m
Tore out the bucket from a red Corvette
F#                                      F#7  F#
Lionel and Dave and the Butcher made three
               C#m                                         C#m7 C#m
Oh, you got to meet me by the knuckles of the skinnybone tree
         G#7                                                F#7
With the strings of a Washburn stretched like a clothes line
             C#m                                             C#m7
Oh, you know me and that mule scrambled right through the hole
C#m                                                C#m7
Me and that mule scrambled right through the hole


[Chorus]
          C#m
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
C#m7         C#m
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six
C#m
Whittle you into kindlin'
C#m7        C#m
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six


[Verse 4]
      C#m                                C#m7  C#m
Now I hold him prisoner in a Washburn jail
       C#m                                    C#m7
That I strapped on the back of my old kick mule
C#m
Strapped on the back of my old kick mule
  F#                                       F#7  F
I bang on the strings just to drive him crazy
      C#m                            C#m7
Oh, I strum it loud to rattle his cage
  C#m
I strum it loud just to rattle his cage
G#7
Strum it loud just to rattle his cage
F#7
Strum it loud just to rattle his cage


[Chorus]
          C#m
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
C#m7         C#m
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six
C#m
Whittle you into kindlin'
C#m7        C#m
Black Crow, sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six