Black Waters

	  		  

 
         
         E                                          B7             E     
I come from the mountains, Kentucky's my home,  
                     E                                             B7          E               
Where the wild deer and the black bear so lately did roam.  
           A                                                       E        
By cool rushing waterfalls the wildflowers dream,  
                         E                                B7                            
And through every green valley there runs a clear stream.  
                           E                                        A  
Now there's scenes of destruction on every hand,  
                       E                               B7                    E  
And there only black waters run down through my land.  
                               A                                         E  
            Sad scenes of destruction on every hand,  
                                  E                                B7                    E  
                 Black waters, black waters run down through the land. 
 

                 E                                         B7                   E    
Oh the quail, she's a pretty bird, she sings a sweet tongue.  
               E                                         B7                  E               
In the roots of the tall timber(s) she nests with her young.  
                   A                                                 E        
But the hillside explodes with the dynamite's roar  
                     E                                             B7                            
And the voices of the small birds are will sound there no more;  
                     E                                                  A  
And the hillsides come a-sliding so awful and grand,  
                     E                               B7          E  
And the flooding black waters rise over my land.  

(Refrain)  

                E                                      B7         E    
In the rising of the springtime we planted our corn.  
                 E                                     B7       E               
In the ending of the springtime we buried a son.  
                  A                                                             E        
In the summer come a nice man, says, "Everything's  fine.  
                 E                                            B7                            
My employer just requires a way to his mine."  
                       A                                                          E        
Then they threw down the mountains and covered my corn,  
                   E                                                  B7                            
And the grave on the hillside's a mile deeper down,  
                  E                                                        A  
And the man stands and talks with his hat in his hand  
                  E                                B7         E  
As the poisonous water spreads over my land.  

(Refrain)  

               E                                 B7            E    
Well, I ain got no money, not much of a home.  
        E                                     B7              E               
I own my own land, but my land's not my own.  
            A                                                      E        
But, if I had ten million, somewhere thereabouts,  
                E                                 B7                            
I would buy Perry County and I'd run 'em all out!  
             E                                                A  
Set down on the bank with my bait in my can  
                    E                                     B7                   E  
And just watch the clear waters run down through my land.  

 
                  E                                               A  
Now, wouldn't that be like the old promised land?  
                 E                  B7                         E  
Black waters, black waters no more in our land.  
     

(Repeat final refrain)