Walt Whitman

WALT WHITMAN'S NIECE MERMAID AVENUE - 1998 WORDS Woody Guthrie - 1946  MUSIC:  Billy Bragg - 1997 Read Walt Whitman, "In Memory of Thomas Paine," 28 January 1877 Speech given at Lincoln Hall, Philadelphia, January 28, 1877, for the 140th anniversary of Thomas Paine's birthday.

Notes: Capo 2nd Fret
 

   C    G    D
e:-3----3----2-|
B:-1----0----3-|
G:-0----0----2-|
D:-2----0----0-|
A:-3----2------|
E:-0----3------|

Chords:
 

G
Last night or the night before that,
G                       Notes  A B C
I won't say which night
C
A seaman friend of mine,
C
I'll not say which seaman,
G
Walked up to a big old building,
G
I won't say which building,
D
And would not have walked up the stairs,
D                        Notes A B C
Not to say which stairs,
C
If there had not been two girls,
C
Leaving out the name of those two girls.

G
I recall a door, a big long room,
G                       Notes  A B C
I'll not tell which room,
C
I remember a deep blue rug.
C
but I can't say which rug
G
A girl took down a book of poems,
G
not to say which book of poems
D
And as she read, I laid my head,
D                           Notes A B C
And I can't tell which head,
C
Down in her lap, and I can't remember which lap.
 

G
My seaman buddy and girl moved off
G                           C
After a couple of pages and there I was,
C
All night long, laying and listening
C
And forgetting all the poems.
G
And as well as I could recall,
G
Or my seaman buddy could recollect,
D
My girl had told me that she was a niece
D                                    Notes A B C
Of Walt Whitman, but not which niece,
C
And it tales a night and a girl
C
And a book of this kind
C
A long  long time to find its way back

SOLO

G G C C G G D D (notes A B C) C C
 

G
Last night or the night before that,
G                       Notes  A B C
I won't say which night
C
A seaman friend of mine,
C
I'll not say which seaman,
G
Walked up to a big old building,
G
I won't say which building,
D
And would not have walked up the stairs,
D                        Notes A B C
Not to say which stairs,
C
If there had not been two girls,
C
Leaving out the name of those two girls.

G
I recall a door, a big long room,
G                       Notes  A B C
I'll not tell which room,
C
I remember a deep blue rug.
C
but I can't say which rug
G
A girl took down a book of poems,
G
not to say which book of poems
D
And as she read, I laid my head,
D                           Notes A B C
And I can't tell which head,
C
Down in her lap, and I can't remember which lap.