Sweet Desert Childhood

G
It was off the desert road
         C                            G
Fourteen miles up in the canyon I was born
G
Where the rocks were piled up high
    C
And when the sun went down
                         G
They looked like big old monsters
          C
You could yell out your whole name
        A7                            C
And the echo would come back crystal clear
         G
And the silence was so deafening
        C                          G
I could hear it like thunder in my ears
G
I still taste the sweet cool water
      C                                 G
As it bubbled out to quench the burning sand

And the cottonwoods stood trembling
       C                                 G
As the desert wind blew soft across the land
          C
Somewhere far away a coyote
A7                              C
Called out his mournful ghostly song
      G
And I knew that very soon
C                               G
Sweet desert childhood would be gone
      C  Bm             C
Can a man ever go back home again?
      C        Am             D       C    G
Can a man ever live that way again?
G
The old windmill made a groan
      C                                     G
As it turned around to face the cold of the night
G
The proof of all existence
         C                          G
Crackled warm in the flickering firelight
        C
And the stars were so perfect
        A7                               C
That I wondered might this all just be a dream
           G                      C                 G
Could this all-alone place really be as magic as it seems?
C              Am            C
Can a man ever go back home again?
C              Am            D           G
Can a man ever live that way again?