Mistress

Intro: G  F  C    G  F  C    G  F  C    G  F  C  

           G      F           C 
Who was my mother, who was my father 
         G          F            C     G 
All I've known is a whip upon my back 
                       F              C   
My skin is yellowed by much more than weakness 
    Am              G            F            C       G  C 
And wise beyond the years of the blue and the black 


             G             F               C 
My arms were never strong enough to stir molasses 
        G          F                C   G 
My eyes watch riverboats as they go by 
                             F               C     ~ Am 
Some call me mistress, but I wish that I was cargo 
                  G            F              C   F  C  ~ Am 
Floating down the Brazos in my chariot to the sky 

  

                     F           C 
Oh Rachel, won't you lie next to me 
  Dm        Am             G      C 
Tonight and every night to come 
              G               F             C 
And won't you calm all that's raging inside me 
       Am               G                F         C    G  F  C    G  F  C 
'Cause outside's just a battlefield that Santa Ana won 

  
           G                F            C 
My people, they worked from can't see to can't see 
       G          F               C       G 
Traded in and out from the grassy shores 
                 F          C       ~ Am 
They say there's something about me 
              G                F          C      G  C 
Flying like a bird, never known freedom before___ 


             G                F            C 
Well, I wear dresses of silks and threaded satins 
                G             F              C       G 
Some gowns were only meant to bear a woman's breast 
                      F                 C   
I'll stand down every white man in this county 
      Am             G                F                  C    F  C  ~ Am 
But Columbus you are dying and I'm no different from the rest 

  

                     F           C 
Oh Rachel, won't you lie next to me 
  Dm        Am             G      C 
Tonight and every night to come 
              G               F             C 
And won't you calm all that's raging inside me 
Am               G                F         C    G  F  C    G  F  C 
Outside's just a battlefield that Santa Ana won 


Instrumental: G  F  C  Am  G  F  C   

  
      G           F           C 
I was born in the hills of Kentucky 
      G             F               C     G 
Never native to the auction block arrest 
                       F               C       ~ Am 
Headed Southbound as a captive in this country 
              G                   F                  C     G  C 
Just like the cowboys drove their cattle through the West___ 


              G            F            C 
Well, you can read all our names in the records 
          G          F               C  
You can deny all the days as they go down 
          G                  F              C       ~ Am 
There's a brick-laid pathway calling you to find us 
             G                 F          C     F  C  ~ Am 
Underneath a golf course in an east Texas town 

  

                     F           C 
Oh Rachel, won't you lie next to me 
  Dm        Am             G      C 
Tonight and every night to come 
              G               F             C 
And won't you calm all that's raging inside me 
       Am               G                F         C    G  F  
'Cause outside's just a battlefield that Santa Ana won 
          C   G  F 
Santa Ana won____ 
          C    G  F  C    G  F  C 
Santa Ana won