Ballad Of Donald White Chords

[Verse 1]
C                 F
My name is Donald White, you see
  G7               C
I stand before you all
      C               F    C
I was judged by you a murderer
                            G7
And the hangman’s knot must fall
C                   F       C
I will die upon the gallows pole
                         F
When the moon is shining clear
    C            F
And these are my final words
     G7            C
That you will ever hear
 
[Verse 2]
     C           F
If I had some education
        G7          C
To give me a decent start
  C                 F      C
I might have been a doctor or
  C             G7
A master in the arts
      C                F    C
But I used my hands for stealing
                F
When I was very young
         C                 F
And they locked me down in jailhouse cells
       G7            C
That’s how my life begun
 
[Verse 3]
        C               F
Oh, the inmates and the prisoners
  G7                 C
I found they were my kind
       C       F        C
It was there inside the bars
  C                 G7
I found my peace of mind
        C                   F   C
But the jails they were too crowded
     C           F
Institutions overflowed
        C                  F
So they turned me loose to walk upon
       G7              C
Life’s hurried tangled road
 
[Verse 4]
            C             F
And there’s danger on the ocean
          G7                   C
Where the salt sea waves split high
            C             F     C
And there’s danger on the battlefield
          C                 G7
Where the shells of bullets fly
            C              F    C
And there’s danger in this open world
      C               F
Where men fight to be free
        C               F
And for me the greatest danger
    G7      C
Was in society
 
[Verse 5]
     C             F
So I asked them to send me back
       G7          C
To the institution home
         C                  F   C
But they said they were too crowded
    C              G7
For me they had no room
  C              F         C
I got down on my knees and begged
     C              F
“Oh, please put me away”
         C                F
But they would not listen to my plea
   G7              C
Or nothing I would say
 
[Verse 6]
    C            F
And so it was on Christmas Eve
       G7        C
In the year of ’59
       C               F        C
It was on that night I killed a man
  C              G7
I did not try to hide
    C             F   C
The jury found me guilty
    C           F
And I won’t disagree
      C                  F
For I knew that it would happen
     G7          C
If I wasn’t put away
 
[Verse 7]
        C                F
But I’m glad I’ve had no parents
   G7             C
To care for me or cry
    C             F     C
For now they will never know
    C                     G7
The horrible death that I die
        C              F      C
And I’m also glad I’ve had no friends
   C            F
To see me in disgrace
            C              F
For they’ll never see that hangman’s hood
G7             C
Wrap around my face
 
[Verse 8]
    C             F
Farewell unto the old north woods
   G7              C
Of which I used to roam
    C             F       C
Farewell unto the crowded bars
   C                G7
Of which’ve been my home
    C               F  C
Farewell to all you people
    C                  F
Who think the worst of me
  C                      F
I guess you’ll feel much better when
    G7              C
I’m on that hanging tree
 
[Verse 9]
            C             F
But there’s just one more question
  G7                C
Before they kill me dead
    C         F        C
I’m wondering just how much
   C            G7
To you I really said
   C               F         C
Concerning all the boys that walk
  C              F
A road just like me
         C          F
Are they enemies or victims
   G7        C
Of your society?
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