Wake Up John The Hanging Song

(intro) Dm A (7x)
        G  D   F

(verso 1)
    A                         F       G       A
A priest joins the procession just to help me kneel
       Bm           C#m       D             Dm
With a warder at my elbow and another at my heel
A                              F         G      A
Marching in the morning down a path I've lately seen
      Bm               C#m          D               Dm
I was sleeping in this garden, am I still within my dream?
    A                           F       G     A
The echo of my heartbeat is the beating of a drum
    Bm               C#m          D            Dm
And all the earth is singing with life's sweet hum
   A                        F        G         A
We filed in solemn silence, shuffled through a door
    Bm                  C#m           G             A
The place where life is taken for the letter of the law

(refrão)
A                     D             E
Shake the holy water, summon up the guard
B            A     G              F#m
Dying's very easy, waiting's very hard

(verso 2)
F#m                                 Bm
A rope was hanging from the roof, a sight which puzzles me
  F#m                                B
I thought a gibbet and a guard would make a gallows tree
    E                            G
But now all is revealed, stamped there is the command
   A                                    B
My feet are on the trapdoor with a rope around my hand
    A                      F       G          A
And now the executioner is shaking hands with me
    Bm          C#m            D                  Dm
"My duty I must carry out, you poor fellow," says he
  A                                 F     G     A
A rope is tied around my feet and a bag upon my head
    Bm                   C#m           D               Dm
And then the noose which separates the living from the dead

(refrão)

(verso 3)
F#m                                                   Bm
There he whispers to me "Have you anything to say?"
       F#m                                            Bm
My mouth is dry, my throat is tight, I answer "Drop away"
E                                                G
Silence now surrounds me, my heart is beating on
       A                                                  B
The trapdoor hardly moves at all, my life is still my own

(violino solo 8x)  A   F  G  A

A                                 F         G          A
They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet still bound
        Bm           C#m               D           Dm
While a carpenter is called for and an explanation found
     A                               F        G       A
"The rain has warped the timbers," I hear the hangman say
      Bm           C#m            D        Dm
"It's funny but it worked well, I tried it yesterday"
F#m                                  Bm
"All is mended now," they say, "your ordeal's nearly over
     F#m                             B
Your life's as good as ended," but I hear their voices waver
     E                            G
Once more the bolt is shaken and again I hang in limbo
          A                                       B
While the guards jump on the trapdoor and my body stands on tip-toe

(refrão)

(verso 4)
     A                            F         G          A
They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet still tied
  Bm             C#m               D              Dm
A warder holds onto the noose, the trapdoor opens wide
      A                         F        G      A
Is it magic or coincidence that keeps me on the brink?
   Bm                C#m              D               Dm
It seems to work without me, "Will it kill me now?" I think
F#m                                Bm
"Please, I'm tired of living and I really want to die"
      F#m                         B
I was taken to the scaffold and I heard the hangman cry
E                         G
"Lee, I'm truly sorry, forgive these hands of mine"
   A                                        B
He three\w the bolt and I felt the jolt the third and final time
   F#m                                  Bm
My life was spared that morning 'cos it wasn't theirs to take
F#m                                  B
Three's the most the law requires, a man to feel the stake

(refrão 2x)