Cottonwood Tree Lyrics
Key: G
Chorus:
Forty two days up that wide Missouri camped under that cottonwood tree
a prettier place in all of creation I don't think I ever will see
oh I know that I never will see
I was walkin along this old deserted hyway six miles from where I'd broke down
I stopped to rest at a dirty old wayside twenty miles from the next town
oh twenty miles from the next town
It was comin' on sundown and footsore and weary I stopped under this old tree
when out of nowhere an old man came walkin' he came and he sat next to me
under that cottonwood tree
Now his clothes was all tattered his hands was all wrinkled
there was a hat pulled low on his face
he pulled out a pipe and he lit it and passed it we smoked and we stared off in space
oh we smoked and we stared off in space
After a while when the silence was broken he said son you look troubled I can see
but you might feel better if you'll sit and listen to a tale of what happened to me
to all that has happened to me
Chorus:
He said we left our home back in eastern Kentucky my wife and my daughter and I
I built a cabin just west of St. Louis back then I was younger and spry
oh back then i was young I was spry
But my wife ran away with a saint louis gambler my daughter she died of the flu
my cabin was struck by a stray bolt of lightnin' my horses got took by the Souix
all my horses was stole by the Souix
My powder was all wet my traps they was empty a critter et the grub that I had
I got bit by a rattlesnake sprayed by a skunk and all of my whiskey went bad
lord all of my whiskey was bad
After he'd finished and I drifted off and I dreamed of what he said all night
early next mornin' when I looked around me my eyes beheld quite a sight
when I looked where he'd laid late last night
There was a weathered old headstone said crazy mans run he died here in eighteen oh three
he was struck by a rattle snake out of his mind we put him down under this tree
oh we buried him under this tree
repeat chorus