Aunt Jessie's Chicken Farm

INTRO: Em  A  D  G  D

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On the old Rio Grande around midnight, the young boy had fallen asleep
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The old yeller dog he found on the trail lay curled in a ball at his feet
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The cowpokes was all drunk and wasted in a town right close to the herd
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When a hurricane wind come blowin' in, there weren't time to give 'em no word
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St. Elmo's fire lit up the herd, turned 'em and turned 'em to one
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When they plowed thru the town with the eeriest sound, not a single soul there was spared
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Not a soul there was spared

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The young boy went whippin' and ridin' into the darkness of night
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The cookie's young steed was a hell of a ride and the saddle bags bulged on each side
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He rode northeast toward the sunrise that came when the wind died away
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The saddle bags held all the cookie had come by, beef jerky, a gun, and his pay
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It was the kid's lucky day

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Evan McGuire was a gambler, cheater of cards was his trade
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A horseless carriage that ran out of gas last night was a part of his wage
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The trail was right lonesome that mornin, nary a soul was in sight
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When the young boy rode up the gambler took aim, figurin' to take the kid's ride
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His bullet went strange like the life he had led, it just wasn't his lucky day
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With his life he did pay

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The kid rifled thru his belongin's, never had killed him no man
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The cookie's pistol was weathered and worn but it brought down a hard one that day
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The kid rode away

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Aunt Jessie's Chicken Farm waited, on those seekin' comfort and play
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The young boy was older and wiser by then, but somethin' just pulled him that way
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He'd taken the money, the gun, and the watch, the gambler had need for no more
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Then he tipped back his hat and he crawled off his horse and headed for Aunt Jessie's door
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This would be his first whore

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Women all gathered around him, marveled how young he must be
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The kid picked him one, went for her room, when she gracefully led him away
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It was his turn to play

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A month's worth of wages he spent there, that's where he figured he'd stay
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The woman he'd picked was the best of the lot, older and wiser than he
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Try as she may she still fell in love, started to lay back her pay
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They would marry some day

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One night while dustin' his clothes off, she noticed the watch by her bed
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She knew the man who belonged to that watch, somehow she knew he was dead
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She was barely fifteen when she met him, and bore him a son on the trail
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The baby got left in the fork of a tree and he dragged her off sicker than hell
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She escaped him somehow

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When she asked the kid 'bout his birthplace, she teared up and started to cry
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She held him and hugged him and kissed him, and told him to leave her that night
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The kid pulled himself into manhood, saved him a measure of pride
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Mother and son bid each other goodbye, she waved as he rode out of sight
               Em  A  D  G  D
She raised the kid