Tramps And Hawkers
By Dave Alvin
Tabbed By Larry Mofle
7/12/2014


Capo 4


  G                     D/F#        C         G         C              G 
I choose to see not the things that be or the miles and years that are gone
  G                C        G                                      Em
I pay no heed to tomorrow's needs, I'm blinded by the snow and the sun
     G                     C           G                                 Em
'Til all I could see is my darlin' and me like young flowers bloomin' in spring
     G                         D/F#    C            G           C      G
Like flowers that grew, and no other I knew but the Rose of the San Joaquin


Oh the gypsies'll dance, a steal and a glance at a seed that might blow in the wind
And the fields are worked in a sweat stained shirt till the workers all move on again
And the tramps and hawkers, with stories wild, beguiled a young boy's dreams
Enticing me to leave my home and the Rose of the San Joaquin

Now I've watched the rise of light in the sky as the sun climbs out of the sea
I've seen giants fall in mountains tall that the lumbermen cut down the tree
And I played in the sand with the gulf coast wind and slept in the grass tall and green
But nowhere I've been would I go back again except for the San Joaquin

But the road back home is long and it's hard and the miles, they turn into years
And the tramps and hawkers in every town, by God, but it brings me to tears
When I got home I found just a flower on a mound to shame the green grasses of spring
It grew from the grave of my darlin' little girl, the Rose of the San Joaquin

Oh see us today out on your highway or asleep in the doors of the train
See the gypsies dance with their damned knowing glances, while the peddlers shout out their refrain
And who's gonna care and who's gonna share all the joys and the troubles we've seen
Like ghosts, we roam, without friends or homes, these tramps and hawkers and me
Like ghosts, we roam, without friends or homes, these tramps and hawkers and me