Chord/Tab song: Phoebe Snow

Phoebe Snow
Starlight On the Rails
November 15, 2008
Banjo tuned E Capo 1, Key D


I [D]saw her name, on the [G]side of a t[D]rain
Somewhere a long time a[A7]go
I don[D]'t know who she was
But I[G] gave my name to so[D]meone cal[A7]led Phoebe S[D]now

Like a b[G]ird on the wing, I hea[D]r voice sing,
As over the prairies I [A7]roll
But I'd give my life to s[G]pend one more night
In the a[D]rms of my [A7]own Phoebe S[D]now

I climbed on board thr[G]ough a wide open [D]door
Just as she started to [A7]roll,
And I [D]rode so light thr[G]ough the long summe[D]r night
In the arms of my [A7]own Phoebe S[D]now.
(chorus)

(spoken)
Many a night I've sat by the fire
In a circle of stone silent men,
And heard the sagebrush whistle and pop
And the coffee boil in the can.

The bott[D]oms were filled w[G]ith a cool river w[D]ind
And the treetops chasing the[A7] moon
And I [D]knew without sayi[G]ng to take my [D]guitar
And play up some [A7]slow gentle t[D]une.

I played up a face I[G] knew long a[D]go
And the song was the sound of a[A7] name,
I kne[D]w without l[G]ooking that every man[D] there
Was each of them [A7]doing the s[D]ame.

Then I played up some [G]hands so pale and s[D]mall
With a touch as light as the [A7]rain,
And I kn[D]ew without lookin[G]g that every man t[D]here
Was each of 'em[A7] feeling the s[D]ame.

Then I played up the booze and the holes in the shoes
Of a man whose life is a cage,
And all the things done to make a man run,
The hard luck and failures of age -
Then I stopped with a crash - we looked into the ash,
Helpless with longing and rage.

Now a traveling life might seem all right,
A life without worry or care;
Always up and always out and always going somewhere,
But I'll tell you, friend-it's not where you are
But your reason for being there.

(sung)D G D
And then I awoke as the day broke,
And gazed out over the pl[A7]ain,
Thin[D]king as how I'm [G]better off [D]now
Being in lo[A7]ve with a t[D]rain.
(chorus)