Chords for John D. Loudermilk: The Story Behind "Tobacco Road" on the "Viva! NashVegas® Radio Show"
Tempo:
77.9 bpm
Chords used:
Ab
E
Eb
Gb
Dbm
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
Tell us about Tobacco Road.
Tobacco Road, I was on [Gb] a, you know, I was wearing this here, put the cover back on.
Before we go any further, I'm going to let our camera [Ab] grab a picture of this.
This is John D.
in the glasses, [Eb] towards the fourth [Ab] in the tie.
[Gb] And Chet Atkinson, our lovely camera person.
Say hello to the people in the audience there.
[C] I'm going [N] to go about Tobacco Road.
There was a, excuse me, there were a bunch of Tobacco Roads.
Anyplace you had a tobacco industry, in a town down south, they had a Tobacco Road.
Because that's where the people lived who were the workers in that industry.
They just developed that way.
Their home was your home.
Yeah.
[Dbm] And cigarettes.
Oh yeah, I worked in the factory.
[Gb] I can tell you a story you will not believe if we had time.
Whatever.
Just ask me.
[N] I was on the clean up crew in a cigarette factory, and I won't tell you which one in Durham, but we all have smoked those cigarettes.
And it was [E] somebody's job every evening, out of 25 or 30 young men, to take this, to [Ab] go around with the, they had spit tunes at each one of the makers and packers.
[E] And they had cigarette tobacco in them.
[N] And it filled one of our jobs every month, to go around and empty those [E] spit tunes into a big hammer.
[E] And so, I [A] did my beauty, and wouldn't it was awful, [Eb] but when I got [Ab] through, I suppose what I do with it, is take it upstairs, follow me up.
So I push it [E] upstairs, and he opened the door, about this high off the ground, and it opened, and he said, push it into there.
And the arm came down and started stirring, and he turned [Eb] on the [N] ultraviolet lights.
And that evening, before we quit the next morning, I went up and got it, and it was brand new, just as clean as a pin.
[E] And he took it downstairs and put it in [N] the, what do you call it?
Yeah, on [Fm] the what?
[Ab] No, no, that's a good thing to put in.
[N] He put it in the belt that travels and feeds the machines.
That made cigarettes?
Yes, man, and people at that time were smoking that stuff.
It was somebody's [Dbm] spit?
Oh yeah, [N] everybody's spit.
Everybody's spit.
And so I was amazed, and I was telling people, they had to, oh.
[Bb] So you wrote a song about Durham, they said.
Okay, back to the song.
About, about.
[G] Okay, yeah, you gotta understand [Abm] where I come from.
Well, [Ab] I was delivered telegrams [E] when I was 15.
And so one night they gave me a handful of money orders to go down to a section of town called Marvin's Alley.
[N] And Marvin's Alley was the tobacco road for Durham.
Factories?
No, just houses.
Old, run-down, Victorian, white-clad workhouse workers.
And there was not a light on in the whole series of houses, and there were about seven or eight houses.
And the money wrote no cards, no nothing.
But each light had a, each porch lamp had a light in it of different colors.
I didn't know what that meant.
I was on a bicycle with a flashlight and a handful of money orders, man.
So I knock on the door of the first house and the lights come on inside and it was full of people.
Why?
Because they were not supposed to be that free with their, with their, with their social Saturday nights or whatever it was.
And, but everybody just sat there on the couches, you know.
I don't know what they were doing, but they just kind of watched me and smiled and nodded and everything.
And when the guy got through, it was a business at the front door.
I left and he turned the lights off and I went to the next house.
And that was tobacco road.
You were delivering?
I was delivering money orders.
I'm going to be knocking the head off it when somebody's quiver on it and, and, and that's the money.
But anyhow, that was, that was, that was the element of where the working class was at the cigarette plants at that time.
It's all changed.
Well, you know, the song that you wrote, Tobacco Road, which is a classic.
Now, I know what you're going to ask me.
It was an autobiographical.
Now, my mother and daddy, my mother didn't die of childbirth.
My daddy didn't get drunk.
I never saw him drink a drop of alcohol.
He smoked cigarettes and died as a result.
I never heard a dirty joke or a curse word from my father.
And he was very, very quiet.
I'd come home at night after work and he and mother would be sitting in the dark, [Ab] having watched the sunset.
And I said, what are y'all doing in here?
He said, you'll know someday.
And [Eb] I'm like, yeah, watching the sunset.
[Db] So this
Tobacco Road, I was on [Gb] a, you know, I was wearing this here, put the cover back on.
Before we go any further, I'm going to let our camera [Ab] grab a picture of this.
This is John D.
in the glasses, [Eb] towards the fourth [Ab] in the tie.
[Gb] And Chet Atkinson, our lovely camera person.
Say hello to the people in the audience there.
[C] I'm going [N] to go about Tobacco Road.
There was a, excuse me, there were a bunch of Tobacco Roads.
Anyplace you had a tobacco industry, in a town down south, they had a Tobacco Road.
Because that's where the people lived who were the workers in that industry.
They just developed that way.
Their home was your home.
Yeah.
[Dbm] And cigarettes.
Oh yeah, I worked in the factory.
[Gb] I can tell you a story you will not believe if we had time.
Whatever.
Just ask me.
[N] I was on the clean up crew in a cigarette factory, and I won't tell you which one in Durham, but we all have smoked those cigarettes.
And it was [E] somebody's job every evening, out of 25 or 30 young men, to take this, to [Ab] go around with the, they had spit tunes at each one of the makers and packers.
[E] And they had cigarette tobacco in them.
[N] And it filled one of our jobs every month, to go around and empty those [E] spit tunes into a big hammer.
[E] And so, I [A] did my beauty, and wouldn't it was awful, [Eb] but when I got [Ab] through, I suppose what I do with it, is take it upstairs, follow me up.
So I push it [E] upstairs, and he opened the door, about this high off the ground, and it opened, and he said, push it into there.
And the arm came down and started stirring, and he turned [Eb] on the [N] ultraviolet lights.
And that evening, before we quit the next morning, I went up and got it, and it was brand new, just as clean as a pin.
[E] And he took it downstairs and put it in [N] the, what do you call it?
Yeah, on [Fm] the what?
[Ab] No, no, that's a good thing to put in.
[N] He put it in the belt that travels and feeds the machines.
That made cigarettes?
Yes, man, and people at that time were smoking that stuff.
It was somebody's [Dbm] spit?
Oh yeah, [N] everybody's spit.
Everybody's spit.
And so I was amazed, and I was telling people, they had to, oh.
[Bb] So you wrote a song about Durham, they said.
Okay, back to the song.
About, about.
[G] Okay, yeah, you gotta understand [Abm] where I come from.
Well, [Ab] I was delivered telegrams [E] when I was 15.
And so one night they gave me a handful of money orders to go down to a section of town called Marvin's Alley.
[N] And Marvin's Alley was the tobacco road for Durham.
Factories?
No, just houses.
Old, run-down, Victorian, white-clad workhouse workers.
And there was not a light on in the whole series of houses, and there were about seven or eight houses.
And the money wrote no cards, no nothing.
But each light had a, each porch lamp had a light in it of different colors.
I didn't know what that meant.
I was on a bicycle with a flashlight and a handful of money orders, man.
So I knock on the door of the first house and the lights come on inside and it was full of people.
Why?
Because they were not supposed to be that free with their, with their, with their social Saturday nights or whatever it was.
And, but everybody just sat there on the couches, you know.
I don't know what they were doing, but they just kind of watched me and smiled and nodded and everything.
And when the guy got through, it was a business at the front door.
I left and he turned the lights off and I went to the next house.
And that was tobacco road.
You were delivering?
I was delivering money orders.
I'm going to be knocking the head off it when somebody's quiver on it and, and, and that's the money.
But anyhow, that was, that was, that was the element of where the working class was at the cigarette plants at that time.
It's all changed.
Well, you know, the song that you wrote, Tobacco Road, which is a classic.
Now, I know what you're going to ask me.
It was an autobiographical.
Now, my mother and daddy, my mother didn't die of childbirth.
My daddy didn't get drunk.
I never saw him drink a drop of alcohol.
He smoked cigarettes and died as a result.
I never heard a dirty joke or a curse word from my father.
And he was very, very quiet.
I'd come home at night after work and he and mother would be sitting in the dark, [Ab] having watched the sunset.
And I said, what are y'all doing in here?
He said, you'll know someday.
And [Eb] I'm like, yeah, watching the sunset.
[Db] So this
Key:
Ab
E
Eb
Gb
Dbm
Ab
E
Eb
_ Tell us about Tobacco Road.
_ Tobacco Road, I was on [Gb] a, you know, I was wearing this here, put the cover back on.
Before we go any further, I'm going to let our camera [Ab] grab a picture of this.
This is John D.
in the glasses, [Eb] towards the fourth [Ab] in the tie.
[Gb] And Chet Atkinson, our lovely camera person.
Say hello to the people in the audience there. _ _ _
[C] _ I'm going [N] to go about Tobacco Road.
There was a, excuse me, there were a bunch of Tobacco Roads.
Anyplace you had a tobacco industry, in a town down south, they had a Tobacco Road.
Because that's where the people lived who were the workers in that industry.
They just developed that way.
_ _ Their home was your home.
Yeah.
[Dbm] And cigarettes.
Oh yeah, I worked in the factory.
[Gb] I can tell you a story you will not believe if we had time.
Whatever.
_ _ _ _ Just ask me.
_ _ _ _ [N] I was on the clean up crew in a cigarette factory, and I won't tell you which one in Durham, but we all have smoked those cigarettes.
And it was [E] somebody's job every evening, out of 25 or 30 young men, to take this, to [Ab] go around with the, they had spit tunes at each one of the makers and packers.
[E] And they had cigarette tobacco in them.
[N] _ And it filled one of our jobs every month, to go around and empty those [E] spit tunes into a big hammer. _ _
[E] And so, I [A] did my beauty, and wouldn't it was awful, [Eb] but when I got [Ab] through, I suppose what I do with it, is take it upstairs, follow me up.
So I push it [E] upstairs, and he opened the door, about this high off the ground, and it opened, and he said, push it into there.
And the arm came down and started stirring, and he turned [Eb] on the [N] ultraviolet lights.
_ And that evening, before we quit the next morning, I went up and got it, and it was brand new, just as clean as a pin.
[E] And he took it downstairs and put it in [N] the, what do you call it?
Yeah, on [Fm] the what?
[Ab] No, no, that's a good thing to put in.
[N] He put it in the belt that travels and feeds the machines.
That made cigarettes?
Yes, man, and people at that time were smoking that stuff.
It was somebody's [Dbm] spit?
Oh yeah, [N] everybody's spit.
Everybody's spit.
And so I was amazed, and I was telling people, they had to, oh.
[Bb] _ So you wrote a song about Durham, they said.
Okay, back to the song.
About, about.
[G] Okay, yeah, you gotta understand [Abm] where I come from.
Well, [Ab] I was delivered _ telegrams [E] when I was 15.
And so one night they gave me a handful of money orders to go down to a section of town called Marvin's Alley.
[N] And Marvin's Alley was the tobacco road for Durham.
_ Factories?
No, just houses.
Old, run-down, Victorian, white-clad workhouse workers.
And there was not a light on in the whole series of houses, and there were about seven or eight houses.
And the money wrote no cards, no nothing.
But each light had a, each porch lamp had a light in it of different colors.
I didn't know what that meant.
I was on a bicycle with a flashlight and a handful of money orders, man.
So I knock on the door of the first house and the lights come on inside and it was full of people.
_ Why?
Because they were not supposed to be that free with their, with their, with their social Saturday nights or whatever it was.
And, but everybody just sat there on the couches, you know.
I don't know what they were doing, but they just kind of watched me and smiled and nodded and everything.
And when the guy got through, it was a business at the front door.
I left and he turned the lights off and I went to the next house.
And that was tobacco road.
You were delivering?
I was delivering money orders.
I'm going to be knocking the head off it when somebody's quiver on it and, and, and that's the money.
But anyhow, that was, that was, that was the element of where the working class was at the cigarette plants at that time.
It's all changed.
Well, you know, the song that you wrote, Tobacco Road, which is a classic.
Now, I know what you're going to ask me.
It was an autobiographical.
Now, my mother and daddy, my mother didn't die of childbirth.
My daddy didn't get drunk.
I never saw him drink a drop of alcohol.
He smoked cigarettes and died as a result.
I never heard a dirty joke or a curse word from my father.
And he was very, very quiet.
I'd come home at night after work and he and mother would be sitting in the dark, [Ab] having watched the sunset. _
And I said, what are y'all doing in here?
He said, you'll know someday.
And [Eb] I'm like, _ yeah, watching the sunset.
[Db] So this
_ Tobacco Road, I was on [Gb] a, you know, I was wearing this here, put the cover back on.
Before we go any further, I'm going to let our camera [Ab] grab a picture of this.
This is John D.
in the glasses, [Eb] towards the fourth [Ab] in the tie.
[Gb] And Chet Atkinson, our lovely camera person.
Say hello to the people in the audience there. _ _ _
[C] _ I'm going [N] to go about Tobacco Road.
There was a, excuse me, there were a bunch of Tobacco Roads.
Anyplace you had a tobacco industry, in a town down south, they had a Tobacco Road.
Because that's where the people lived who were the workers in that industry.
They just developed that way.
_ _ Their home was your home.
Yeah.
[Dbm] And cigarettes.
Oh yeah, I worked in the factory.
[Gb] I can tell you a story you will not believe if we had time.
Whatever.
_ _ _ _ Just ask me.
_ _ _ _ [N] I was on the clean up crew in a cigarette factory, and I won't tell you which one in Durham, but we all have smoked those cigarettes.
And it was [E] somebody's job every evening, out of 25 or 30 young men, to take this, to [Ab] go around with the, they had spit tunes at each one of the makers and packers.
[E] And they had cigarette tobacco in them.
[N] _ And it filled one of our jobs every month, to go around and empty those [E] spit tunes into a big hammer. _ _
[E] And so, I [A] did my beauty, and wouldn't it was awful, [Eb] but when I got [Ab] through, I suppose what I do with it, is take it upstairs, follow me up.
So I push it [E] upstairs, and he opened the door, about this high off the ground, and it opened, and he said, push it into there.
And the arm came down and started stirring, and he turned [Eb] on the [N] ultraviolet lights.
_ And that evening, before we quit the next morning, I went up and got it, and it was brand new, just as clean as a pin.
[E] And he took it downstairs and put it in [N] the, what do you call it?
Yeah, on [Fm] the what?
[Ab] No, no, that's a good thing to put in.
[N] He put it in the belt that travels and feeds the machines.
That made cigarettes?
Yes, man, and people at that time were smoking that stuff.
It was somebody's [Dbm] spit?
Oh yeah, [N] everybody's spit.
Everybody's spit.
And so I was amazed, and I was telling people, they had to, oh.
[Bb] _ So you wrote a song about Durham, they said.
Okay, back to the song.
About, about.
[G] Okay, yeah, you gotta understand [Abm] where I come from.
Well, [Ab] I was delivered _ telegrams [E] when I was 15.
And so one night they gave me a handful of money orders to go down to a section of town called Marvin's Alley.
[N] And Marvin's Alley was the tobacco road for Durham.
_ Factories?
No, just houses.
Old, run-down, Victorian, white-clad workhouse workers.
And there was not a light on in the whole series of houses, and there were about seven or eight houses.
And the money wrote no cards, no nothing.
But each light had a, each porch lamp had a light in it of different colors.
I didn't know what that meant.
I was on a bicycle with a flashlight and a handful of money orders, man.
So I knock on the door of the first house and the lights come on inside and it was full of people.
_ Why?
Because they were not supposed to be that free with their, with their, with their social Saturday nights or whatever it was.
And, but everybody just sat there on the couches, you know.
I don't know what they were doing, but they just kind of watched me and smiled and nodded and everything.
And when the guy got through, it was a business at the front door.
I left and he turned the lights off and I went to the next house.
And that was tobacco road.
You were delivering?
I was delivering money orders.
I'm going to be knocking the head off it when somebody's quiver on it and, and, and that's the money.
But anyhow, that was, that was, that was the element of where the working class was at the cigarette plants at that time.
It's all changed.
Well, you know, the song that you wrote, Tobacco Road, which is a classic.
Now, I know what you're going to ask me.
It was an autobiographical.
Now, my mother and daddy, my mother didn't die of childbirth.
My daddy didn't get drunk.
I never saw him drink a drop of alcohol.
He smoked cigarettes and died as a result.
I never heard a dirty joke or a curse word from my father.
And he was very, very quiet.
I'd come home at night after work and he and mother would be sitting in the dark, [Ab] having watched the sunset. _
And I said, what are y'all doing in here?
He said, you'll know someday.
And [Eb] I'm like, _ yeah, watching the sunset.
[Db] So this