Cherokee Bend Chords by Gordon Lightfoot

[Start]

[Verse]
Gbm Gbm7                                Gbm             
■   ■    His father was a man who could never understand
    A                          
The shame on the red man's face
        Gbm                                        
So they lived in the hills and they never came down
       Db7                           
But to trade in the white man's place
Gbm                                              
Early in the spring when the snow had disappeared
          A                       
They came down with a bag of skins
       Gbm                             
In the fall of the year of nineteen ten
Db7                            Gbm          
Daddy died by the rope down in Cherokee Bend
Bm                                       
Daddy didn't like what the white man said
          Db           Db7            
'bout the dirty little kid at his side
Bm                                      
Daddy didn't like what the white man did
        Db7                         
Nor the deal or the way that he lied
          Gbm                                       
There was blood on the floor of the government store
         A                      
When the men took his daddy away
        Gbm                                      
But the boy stayed back till he'd come to his end
        Db                     Db7           Gbm7 Gbsus4 Gbm
Then he run like the wind from Cherokee Bend ■    ■      ■  


[Inst]

[Verse]
                                 Gbm               
Now the mother was alone and the winter was at hand
        A                       
And she prayed to her spirit kin
                                A             
It was warm in the lodge in the Kentucky hills
       Dbsus4                  
On the day when the boy came in
       Gbm                                          
Then a blizzard came down and it covered up the door
          A                              
Till they thought that it never would end
       Gbm                                     
And he told her the tale of the terrible affair
       Db7                      Dbsus4   Gb7 
In the government store down in Cherokee Bend


[Chorus]
Bm                                       
Daddy didn't like what the white man said
          Db           Db7            
'bout the dirty little kid at his side
Bm                                      
Daddy didn't like what the white man did
        Db7                         
Nor the deal or the way that he lied
    Gbm                                  
For three long days and three long nights
     A                             
They wept and they mourned and then
    Gbm                          Db7    
She returned to her work and her weavin'
                                        Gbm 
And they tried to forget about Cherokee Bend


[Inst]
Gbm7 Gbm Gbsus4 Gbm7 Gbm
■    ■   ■      ■    ■  


[Verse]
                              Gbm                 
Now the boy wasn't big but he hunted what he could
         A                        
And they lived for a time that way
        Gbm                               
But the food run low and the meat went bad
        Db7                 Gbm
And she said to the boy one day
                        Gbm                
I'm leavin' tonight and I never will return
         A                    
From the land of my spirit kin
         Gbm                                      
You must take what you need and trade what you can
      Db7                     Gbm          
For a red man's grave down in Cherokee Bend


[Chorus]
Bm                                          
It wasn't very long till she closed her eyes
       Db7                  
And he wrapped her in a robe
   Bm                                     
He found her a place on the side of a hill
       Db7                   
And he buried her in the snow
Gbm                                        
Early in the spring he was seen comin' down
         A                           
With his load lookin' ragged and thin
      Gbm                                      
Not a year had gone by till he stood once again
       Db7                               Gbm 
In the government store down in Cherokee Bend


[Inst]
Dbm7 Bm Gbm Gbm7 Gbm
■    ■  ■   ■    ■  


[Verse]
                            Gbm        
He was ten years tall and a redskin too
      A                       
So he hadn't much face to save
        Gbm                                             
And the men sat around and they laughed and they clowned
       Db7                       
At the talk of a criminal's grave
       Gbm                                        
Then a man from the east didn't smile when he said
           A                      
You're the son of that indian scum
                                A           
If you value your hide then you better abide
       Db7                       Gbm      Gb7 
By the white man's rules here in Cherokee Bend
Bm                                       
Daddy didn't like what the white man said
          Db7                         
'bout the dirty little kid at his side
Bm                                      
Daddy didn't like what the white man did
        Db7                         
Nor the deal or the way that he lied
       Gbm                                      
And he spit on the floor of the government store
       A                        
And it served him to no good end
       Gbm                                     
At the close of the day they had taken him away
       Dbsus4                                  
To the white man's school down in Cherokee Bend


[Solo]
Gbm Gbm7 Gbsus4 Gbm7 Dbm7 Gbm
■   ■    ■      ■    ■    ■  


[Chorus]
          Gbm7                       Gbm            
It's been twenty one years since the boy disappeared
         A                  
Where he run to nobody knows
         Gbm                                
But they say he fell in with a man named Jim
       Db7                
And he rides in the rodeos
Gbm                                         
And they say he returns all alone to a place
A                               
Hidden deep in the Kentucky glen
         Gbm                                      
And it's pretty well known who hauled up the stone
       Db7                     Gbm          
To the grave on the hill above Cherokee Bend
Bm                                       
Daddy didn't like what the white man said
          Db           Db7            
'bout the dirty little kid at his side
Bm                                      
Daddy didn't like what the white man did
        Db                      Db7 
Nor the deal or the way that he lied
          Gbm                                       
There was blood on the floor of the government store
         A                      
When the men took his daddy away
       Gbm                                     
It was nineteen ten and they never had a friend
        Db7                               Gbm 
When he died by the rope down in Cherokee Bend
                        Gbm                    
It was nineteen ten and they never had a friend


[End]
        Db7                      Gbm          
When he died by the rope down in Cherokee Bend