Robert Earl Keen

Chords By: Lloyd.

song in "D", capo 2nd fret 

Intro (Road of No Return):
(G D C C D G) x 2, (C D C G) x 2, Em D C Em D G

The (C) sweet smell of (Am) nighttime (C) rides on the (Am) breeze.
The (C) river is (Am) winding (F) through the hickory (C) trees.
The (C) redbones are (Am) howling (C) down by Wilson's (Am) Bridge.
The (C) lawmen stand (Am) waiting upon (F) Deadman's (Am) Ridge.

Chorus:
(F) Ooh (C) Carolina, (G) so dark I can't (Am) see.
(F) Ooh (C) Carolina, (G) won't you let me (Am) go free.

I came here with Lily a year just last fall.
We left her old daddy back in Donegal.
We made us a home place of Black Mountain stone.
But one cold winter morning I woke up alone.

Chorus.

Days full of silence are so incomplete.
Nights without Lily I took to the streets.
And in the streets of Asheville I channeled my pain.
Til one raging black night I slept in the rain.

(key change from D to E, play as noted, still capo 2nd fret)

I (D) dreamed of a (Bm) refuge a (D) red velvet (Bm) world
And (D) I swore my (Bm) sweet Lily (G) was on of the (D) girls.
I (D) loved her so (Bm) madly (D) I loved her so (Bm) long.
I (D) woke with my (Bm) dream girl (G) but her life was all (Bm) gone.

Chorus:
(G) Ooh (D) Carolina, (A) so dark I can't (Bm) see.
(G) Ooh (D) Carolina, (A) won't you let me go (Bm) free.

(D) Love has no (Bm) boundary (D) sorrow no (Bm) end.
And the (D) lawmen of (Bm) Asheville (G) have no mercy in (D) them.

Chorus. (A) Let me reach (Bm) Tennessee . . .