Wake Up John The Hanging Song keyboard

Wake Up John The Hanging Song

• Dm

(intro) Dm A (7x)       
        G  D   F 

(verso 1) 
    A                         F       G       A 
A priest joins the procession just to help me kneel 
       Bm           C#m       D             Dm 
With a warder at my elbow and another at my heel 
A                              F         G      A 
Marching in the morning down a path I've lately seen 
      Bm               C#m          D               Dm 
I was sleeping in this garden, am I still within my dream? 
    A                           F       G     A 
The echo of my heartbeat is the beating of a drum 
    Bm               C#m          D            Dm 
And all the earth is singing with life's sweet hum 
   A                        F        G         A 
We filed in solemn silence, shuffled through a door 
    Bm                  C#m           G             A 
The place where life is taken for the letter of the law 

(Refrão) 
A                     D             E 
Shake the holy water, summon up the guard 
B            A     G              F#m 
Dying's very easy, waiting's very hard 

(verso 2) 
F#m                                 Bm 
A rope was hanging from the roof, a sight which puzzles me 
  F#m                                B 
I thought a gibbet and a guard would make a gallows tree 
    E                            G 
But now all is revealed, stamped there is the command 
   A                                    B 
My feet are on the trapdoor with a rope around my hand 
    A                      F       G          A 
And now the executioner is shaking hands with me 
    Bm          C#m            D                  Dm 
"My duty I must carry out, you poor fellow," says he 
  A                                 F     G     A 
A rope is tied around my feet and a bag upon my head 
    Bm                   C#m           D               Dm 
And then the noose which separates the living from the dead 

(Refrão) 

(verso 3) 
F#m                                                   Bm 
There he whispers to me "Have you anything to say?" 
       F#m                                            Bm 
My mouth is dry, my throat is tight, I answer "Drop away" 
E                                                G 
Silence now surrounds me, my heart is beating on 
       A                                                  B 
The trapdoor hardly moves at all, my life is still my own 

(violino solo 8x)  A   F  G  A 

A                                 F         G          A 
They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet still bound 
        Bm           C#m               D           Dm 
While a carpenter is called for and an explanation found 
     A                               F        G       A 
"The rain has warped the timbers," I hear the hangman say 
      Bm           C#m            D        Dm 
"It's funny but it worked well, I tried it yesterday" 
F#m                                  Bm 
"All is mended now," they say, "your ordeal's nearly over 
     F#m                             B 
Your life's as good as ended," but I hear their voices waver 
     E                            G 
Once more the bolt is shaken and again I hang in limbo 
          A                                       B 
While the guards jump on the trapdoor and my body stands on tip-toe 

(Refrão) 

(verso 4) 
     A                            F         G          A 
They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet still tied 
  Bm             C#m               D              Dm 
A warder holds onto the noose, the trapdoor opens wide 
      A                         F        G      A 
Is it magic or coincidence that keeps me on the brink? 
   Bm                C#m              D               Dm 
It seems to work without me, "Will it kill me now?" I think 
F#m                                Bm 
"Please, I'm tired of living and I really want to die" 
      F#m                         B 
I was taken to the scaffold and I heard the hangman cry 
E                         G 
"Lee, I'm truly sorry, forgive these hands of mine" 
   A                                        B 
He three\w the bolt and I felt the jolt the third and final time 
   F#m                                  Bm 
My life was spared that morning 'cos it wasn't theirs to take 
F#m                                  B 
Three's the most the law requires, a man to feel the stake 

(Refrão 2x)  

x

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