Chords for Re: Elizabeth Cotten - Freight Train
Tempo:
92.2 bpm
Chords used:
D
A
E
C#
Am
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
It was the Seeger family who discovered Elizabeth Cotton.
She was born about [G] 1892.
Her grandmother was a slave.
She was only a young thing in her 60s when she came up
to Washington from North Carolina and got a job with the Seegers as a domestic help.
At that time she wasn't playing at all and hadn't done for about 40 years.
Back home the preachers had warned her about worldliness and music.
The Seegers were to change all that.
I'm going to sing it.
[D#] Old Georgie Book, Old Georgie Book, Old Georgie Book said so.
Georgie Book said, that word he said, there's more in no shawl than in his braid.
Shawl than in his braid, when swimming in his hand.
Ah, ha, ha, ha.
[Cm]
[D#]
[F#] [D#]
Georgie Book.
Yeah, that's lovely.
Where did you [D] learn your music at home when you were growing up?
I learned my music in my home.
When I was 11 years old I went to work and bought myself a guitar.
When my mother would leave home to go to work, after mother was gone I'd get up and put my dress on
and go down among where the white people lived.
And I'd knock on the door.
Someone would come to the door and I'd say, Miss, would you like someone to work for you?
And they sometimes said no or nothing.
I knocked on one lady's door and when she opened the door she says,
what could a little girl like you do?
She hired me.
I said, Miss, I can sweep your kitchen, I can help with the vegetables, I can set your table.
I said, you know, I can make a fire in your wood stove.
She cooked on an iron stove then.
Y'all know about them?
No, you don't.
You've heard about them.
But I did.
I knew how to make a fire in this iron stove to make it draw so she could cook.
So she says to me, come in.
And I went into her house.
I started to work for her that day.
And I worked for her until she left Chapel Hill.
And she paid me 75 cents a month.
Well, I didn't know 75 cents wasn't much money.
It was a lot of money.
Me, I'd never worked before.
So one morning she came in the kitchen.
She says, we're going to give you more money.
And she gave me then after that $1 a month.
And I gave that to my mother and I said, buy me this guitar.
So she bought it to her.
And I was in sorrow.
She didn't get no more rest.
See, I was just practicing all the time.
I couldn't play it, just making a noise.
She starved me.
She starved me until meeting.
She called me, babe, babe, put that thing down and go to bed.
I said, Mama, I'm learning a new song.
I don't want to learn no song.
Because I didn't know one then.
I didn't know no song then.
Elizabeth, you wrote one of the most famous folk songs of all time.
It's played all over the [G] world and almost every country.
Called Freight Train.
How did you come to write that song?
Well, just as I said, I lay in bed at night and hear Stuart on the track.
Trying to come in.
And he said, choo, choo, choo, chooka, chooka.
And I'd go to sleep hearing that the rest of the night.
So I guess that gave me a mind to write something about the freight train.
Must have.
[E]
[Bm] [E] [B]
[A] [E] [C#]
[D] [A]
[E] [C#]
[D] [Am]
[Em] [A] [C#m] Freight train, freight train, [B] runs so fast.
Freight [Em] train, freight train, runs [C#m] so fast.
[C#]
Please don't [D] tell what train I'm on.
[A] They won't know [Em] what route [Am] I'm gone.
When I am [A] dead and [B] in my grave, no [C#m] more good time, ere I crave.
[C#] Place the stones at [D] my head and feet, tell them [B] all that I'm gone to [F#m] sleep.
[Am] [C#]
When [D] [Am]
I die, [B] Lord, bury me deep, [E] way down on old [C#m] Chelsea Street.
[C#] Then I can hear [D] old number nine as [F#] she comes rolling by.
[Am] [E] Freight train, freight train, [B] runs so fast.
[E] Freight train, freight train, runs so fast.
[C#] Please don't tell [D] what train I'm on.
They [A] won't know what [Em] route I'm gone.
[A] [C#] [D] [A]
[E] [A] [E]
[Em]
[A] [C#]
[D] [E]
[F#] [Am] [C#]
[D] [Am]
She was born about [G] 1892.
Her grandmother was a slave.
She was only a young thing in her 60s when she came up
to Washington from North Carolina and got a job with the Seegers as a domestic help.
At that time she wasn't playing at all and hadn't done for about 40 years.
Back home the preachers had warned her about worldliness and music.
The Seegers were to change all that.
I'm going to sing it.
[D#] Old Georgie Book, Old Georgie Book, Old Georgie Book said so.
Georgie Book said, that word he said, there's more in no shawl than in his braid.
Shawl than in his braid, when swimming in his hand.
Ah, ha, ha, ha.
[Cm]
[D#]
[F#] [D#]
Georgie Book.
Yeah, that's lovely.
Where did you [D] learn your music at home when you were growing up?
I learned my music in my home.
When I was 11 years old I went to work and bought myself a guitar.
When my mother would leave home to go to work, after mother was gone I'd get up and put my dress on
and go down among where the white people lived.
And I'd knock on the door.
Someone would come to the door and I'd say, Miss, would you like someone to work for you?
And they sometimes said no or nothing.
I knocked on one lady's door and when she opened the door she says,
what could a little girl like you do?
She hired me.
I said, Miss, I can sweep your kitchen, I can help with the vegetables, I can set your table.
I said, you know, I can make a fire in your wood stove.
She cooked on an iron stove then.
Y'all know about them?
No, you don't.
You've heard about them.
But I did.
I knew how to make a fire in this iron stove to make it draw so she could cook.
So she says to me, come in.
And I went into her house.
I started to work for her that day.
And I worked for her until she left Chapel Hill.
And she paid me 75 cents a month.
Well, I didn't know 75 cents wasn't much money.
It was a lot of money.
Me, I'd never worked before.
So one morning she came in the kitchen.
She says, we're going to give you more money.
And she gave me then after that $1 a month.
And I gave that to my mother and I said, buy me this guitar.
So she bought it to her.
And I was in sorrow.
She didn't get no more rest.
See, I was just practicing all the time.
I couldn't play it, just making a noise.
She starved me.
She starved me until meeting.
She called me, babe, babe, put that thing down and go to bed.
I said, Mama, I'm learning a new song.
I don't want to learn no song.
Because I didn't know one then.
I didn't know no song then.
Elizabeth, you wrote one of the most famous folk songs of all time.
It's played all over the [G] world and almost every country.
Called Freight Train.
How did you come to write that song?
Well, just as I said, I lay in bed at night and hear Stuart on the track.
Trying to come in.
And he said, choo, choo, choo, chooka, chooka.
And I'd go to sleep hearing that the rest of the night.
So I guess that gave me a mind to write something about the freight train.
Must have.
[E]
[Bm] [E] [B]
[A] [E] [C#]
[D] [A]
[E] [C#]
[D] [Am]
[Em] [A] [C#m] Freight train, freight train, [B] runs so fast.
Freight [Em] train, freight train, runs [C#m] so fast.
[C#]
Please don't [D] tell what train I'm on.
[A] They won't know [Em] what route [Am] I'm gone.
When I am [A] dead and [B] in my grave, no [C#m] more good time, ere I crave.
[C#] Place the stones at [D] my head and feet, tell them [B] all that I'm gone to [F#m] sleep.
[Am] [C#]
When [D] [Am]
I die, [B] Lord, bury me deep, [E] way down on old [C#m] Chelsea Street.
[C#] Then I can hear [D] old number nine as [F#] she comes rolling by.
[Am] [E] Freight train, freight train, [B] runs so fast.
[E] Freight train, freight train, runs so fast.
[C#] Please don't tell [D] what train I'm on.
They [A] won't know what [Em] route I'm gone.
[A] [C#] [D] [A]
[E] [A] [E]
[Em]
[A] [C#]
[D] [E]
[F#] [Am] [C#]
[D] [Am]
Key:
D
A
E
C#
Am
D
A
E
It was the Seeger family who discovered Elizabeth Cotton. _ _ _
_ _ _ She was born about [G] 1892.
Her grandmother was a slave.
She was only a young thing in her 60s when she came up
to Washington from North Carolina and got a job with the Seegers as a domestic help.
At that time she wasn't playing at all and hadn't done for about 40 years.
Back home the preachers had warned her about worldliness and music.
The Seegers were to change all that.
I'm going to sing it. _ _ _ _
[D#] Old Georgie Book, Old Georgie Book, Old Georgie Book said so.
_ _ Georgie Book said, that word he said, there's more in no shawl than in his braid.
_ Shawl than in his braid, when swimming in his hand.
Ah, ha, ha, ha. _ _ _
_ [Cm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[D#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F#] _ _ [D#] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Georgie Book. _ _
_ Yeah, that's lovely.
Where did you [D] learn your music at home when you were growing up?
I learned my music in my home.
When I was 11 years old I went to work and bought myself a guitar.
When my mother would leave home to go to work, after mother was gone I'd get up and put my dress on
and go down among where the white people lived.
And I'd knock on the door.
Someone would come to the door and I'd say, Miss, would you like someone to work for you?
And they sometimes said no or nothing.
I knocked on one lady's door and when she opened the door she says,
what could a little girl like you do?
She hired me.
I said, Miss, I can sweep your kitchen, I can help with the vegetables, I can set your table.
I said, you know, I can make a fire in your wood stove.
She cooked on an iron stove then.
Y'all know about them?
No, you don't.
You've heard about them.
But I did.
I knew how to make a fire in this iron stove to make it draw so she could cook.
So she says to me, come in.
And I went into her house.
I started to work for her that day.
And I worked for her until she left Chapel Hill.
And she paid me 75 cents a month.
_ Well, I didn't know 75 cents wasn't much money.
It was a lot of money.
Me, I'd never worked before.
So one morning she came in the kitchen.
She says, we're going to give you more money.
And she gave me then after that $1 a month.
And I gave that to my mother and I said, buy me this guitar.
So she bought it to her.
And I was in sorrow.
She didn't get no more rest.
See, I was just practicing all the time.
I couldn't play it, just making a noise.
She starved me.
She starved me until meeting.
She called me, babe, babe, put that thing down and go to bed.
I said, Mama, I'm learning a new song.
I don't want to learn no song.
Because I didn't know one then.
I didn't know no song then.
Elizabeth, you wrote one of the most famous folk songs of all time.
It's played all over the [G] world and almost every country.
Called Freight Train.
How did you come to write that song?
Well, just as I said, I lay in bed at night and hear Stuart on the track.
Trying to come in.
And he said, choo, choo, choo, chooka, chooka.
_ And I'd go to sleep hearing that the rest of the night.
So I guess that gave me a mind to write something about the freight train.
Must have.
[E] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Bm] _ _ [E] _ _ [B] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ [E] _ _ [C#] _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ [C#] _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _
[Em] _ [A] _ _ _ [C#m] _ Freight train, freight train, [B] runs so fast.
Freight [Em] train, freight train, runs [C#m] so fast.
_ [C#]
Please don't [D] tell what train I'm on.
[A] They won't know [Em] what route [Am] I'm gone.
_ _ When I am [A] dead and [B] in my grave, no [C#m] more good time, ere I crave.
[C#] Place the stones at [D] my head and feet, tell them [B] all that I'm gone to [F#m] sleep.
_ [Am] _ _ [C#] _
When _ [D] _ _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
I die, [B] Lord, bury me deep, _ [E] way down on old [C#m] Chelsea Street.
_ [C#] Then I can hear [D] old number nine as [F#] she comes rolling by.
_ [Am] _ _ [E] Freight train, freight train, [B] runs so fast. _
[E] Freight train, freight train, runs so fast.
[C#] Please don't tell [D] what train I'm on.
They [A] won't know what [Em] route I'm gone.
_ [A] _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
[E] _ [A] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _
_ [A] _ _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
[F#] _ _ [Am] _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ She was born about [G] 1892.
Her grandmother was a slave.
She was only a young thing in her 60s when she came up
to Washington from North Carolina and got a job with the Seegers as a domestic help.
At that time she wasn't playing at all and hadn't done for about 40 years.
Back home the preachers had warned her about worldliness and music.
The Seegers were to change all that.
I'm going to sing it. _ _ _ _
[D#] Old Georgie Book, Old Georgie Book, Old Georgie Book said so.
_ _ Georgie Book said, that word he said, there's more in no shawl than in his braid.
_ Shawl than in his braid, when swimming in his hand.
Ah, ha, ha, ha. _ _ _
_ [Cm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[D#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F#] _ _ [D#] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Georgie Book. _ _
_ Yeah, that's lovely.
Where did you [D] learn your music at home when you were growing up?
I learned my music in my home.
When I was 11 years old I went to work and bought myself a guitar.
When my mother would leave home to go to work, after mother was gone I'd get up and put my dress on
and go down among where the white people lived.
And I'd knock on the door.
Someone would come to the door and I'd say, Miss, would you like someone to work for you?
And they sometimes said no or nothing.
I knocked on one lady's door and when she opened the door she says,
what could a little girl like you do?
She hired me.
I said, Miss, I can sweep your kitchen, I can help with the vegetables, I can set your table.
I said, you know, I can make a fire in your wood stove.
She cooked on an iron stove then.
Y'all know about them?
No, you don't.
You've heard about them.
But I did.
I knew how to make a fire in this iron stove to make it draw so she could cook.
So she says to me, come in.
And I went into her house.
I started to work for her that day.
And I worked for her until she left Chapel Hill.
And she paid me 75 cents a month.
_ Well, I didn't know 75 cents wasn't much money.
It was a lot of money.
Me, I'd never worked before.
So one morning she came in the kitchen.
She says, we're going to give you more money.
And she gave me then after that $1 a month.
And I gave that to my mother and I said, buy me this guitar.
So she bought it to her.
And I was in sorrow.
She didn't get no more rest.
See, I was just practicing all the time.
I couldn't play it, just making a noise.
She starved me.
She starved me until meeting.
She called me, babe, babe, put that thing down and go to bed.
I said, Mama, I'm learning a new song.
I don't want to learn no song.
Because I didn't know one then.
I didn't know no song then.
Elizabeth, you wrote one of the most famous folk songs of all time.
It's played all over the [G] world and almost every country.
Called Freight Train.
How did you come to write that song?
Well, just as I said, I lay in bed at night and hear Stuart on the track.
Trying to come in.
And he said, choo, choo, choo, chooka, chooka.
_ And I'd go to sleep hearing that the rest of the night.
So I guess that gave me a mind to write something about the freight train.
Must have.
[E] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Bm] _ _ [E] _ _ [B] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ [E] _ _ [C#] _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ [C#] _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _
[Em] _ [A] _ _ _ [C#m] _ Freight train, freight train, [B] runs so fast.
Freight [Em] train, freight train, runs [C#m] so fast.
_ [C#]
Please don't [D] tell what train I'm on.
[A] They won't know [Em] what route [Am] I'm gone.
_ _ When I am [A] dead and [B] in my grave, no [C#m] more good time, ere I crave.
[C#] Place the stones at [D] my head and feet, tell them [B] all that I'm gone to [F#m] sleep.
_ [Am] _ _ [C#] _
When _ [D] _ _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
I die, [B] Lord, bury me deep, _ [E] way down on old [C#m] Chelsea Street.
_ [C#] Then I can hear [D] old number nine as [F#] she comes rolling by.
_ [Am] _ _ [E] Freight train, freight train, [B] runs so fast. _
[E] Freight train, freight train, runs so fast.
[C#] Please don't tell [D] what train I'm on.
They [A] won't know what [Em] route I'm gone.
_ [A] _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
[E] _ [A] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _
_ [A] _ _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
[F#] _ _ [Am] _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _