Ballad Of Yvonne Johnson

INTRO: F  C  F  C


My name is Yvonne Johnson
   F               C
My native blood is Cree
    G                C
I'm here to tell the story
       F                C   F  C  F  C
Of the life stolen from me



My grandfather's grandfather was
    F                   C
The great war chief Big Bear
    G             C
And Flora my grandmother worked
     F            C
With medicine and prayer



My mother is Saskatchewan
   F          C
My daddy ex-Marine
    G            C
And I was just a half-breed
        F              C
Falling somewhere in between
F              C
Somewhere in between


G              C
Raised up in a reckless world
   G             C
Of drugs and alcohol
    G                C
The police killed my brother, Earl
    F            G
The only one who cared at all


      C
Cleft palate split my face in two
   F             C
No surgery can repair
  G                  C
I lived in shame and ridicule
    F             C
Foundations of despair
    F             C    F  C  F  C
Foundations of despair



First memory of my brother, Leon
F          C
I was only three
   G               C
He threw me on the table
          F              C
Forced himself inside of me



All the kids stood 'round
       F            C
As I descended into hell
       G              C
When I told my daddy 'bout it
         F              C          F
Well, he had his way as well, boys
                   C
He took me down as well


  G             C
I didn't have a language
        G               C
For the pain I suffered through
  G           C
Escaping into marriage
         F                 G
But your past just catches up with you


  C
Until I had three children
      F          C
And a ragged family
  G                 C
A desperate urge to keep them
         F                  C        F
From the wolves that got to me, boys
                   C
Wolves that got to me


INSTRUMENTAL: C    F C  G  C  F  C  F  C    G  C  G  C  G  C  F
              C    F  C  F  C



I wish I could forget that night
    F                 C
The way the cards all fell
    G                 C
The deck was stacked against me
      F                 C
And I played my part so well



Three days on the party
     F            C
In a drunken revelry
G                C
Shirley Ann said Chuck had plans
   F                 C
To lure my kids from me
F                 C
Lure my kids from me


   G                C
We stuck him with a dagger
       G                   C
And we beat him 'round the head
  G                C
I unleashed all my anger
      F                G
And I didn't stop when he was dead


     C
They set me up to take the fall
  F                C
I went down willingly
        G             C
Now I'm doing life in prison
          F                C          F
While the rest of them run free, boys
                    C
They're all running free


INSTRUMENTAL: C    F  C  F  C  F G C


Grandmother, grandmother
F                    C
Send your prayers to me
   G              C
Protect me and my children
      F                C
For I love them endlessly



Creator, creator
F            C
I have come alive
G             C
Medicine Bear Woman
      F              C          F
Doing life at thirty-five, boys
               C
Life at thirty-five


        F
I pray, help me to make my amends
   C
To those that I have harmed
F
Grant them love and peace so they may
C
Understand I'm sorry


F
Help me share my shame and pain
   C
So others they might do the same
    F
And so awaken to themselves
    C
And to all peoples of this world


OUTRO:
    F
Oh, Hai hai, hai hai
C
Ho ho, ho ho
F
Ohh ooh
C
Ohh ooh
F
Ohh ooh
C  F  C  F  C  F  C  F  C  F  C  F  C  F  C