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        << Back to Jimmie Rodgers Song List
Version 1 Version 2
            Some quality 1929 goodness.
Play the F#dim as either 2x212x or xx1212.
[Verse 1]
C                      A7
Nobody knows 'bout the jailhouse blues,
D7           G7          C
Till you get within four walls,
C                                 A7
And the old jailer man turns that big black key,
D7                       G7
That's when your spirit falls.
         C             C7
Then you drag yourself up to the bars
    F                  F#dim
and while you gaze out at the stars
D7               G7
this is what you say...
[Chorus]
C                        A7
Why did I stray from the righteous path,
D7     G7        C
Nobody knows but me,
C                        A7
There on the outside you all can laugh,
D7                   G7
I don't need your sympathy.
     C                      C7
For after I've paid for the liquor I sold,
     F                         F#dim
I'll leave this place worth my weight in gold.
C                            A7
So why did I stray from the righteous path,
G7               C
Nobody knows but me.
C            G7  C
Nobody knows but me.
[Verse 2]
     C                       A7
When you realize that you're all alone,
D7           G7     C
Sitting in a two by four
C                          A7
that little cell is just a taste of hell,
D7                        G7
If you ain't been there before.
        C                         C7
You are locked up tight, but they treat you fair.
    F                       F#dim
You get ev'rything that you need in there
D7                  G
that's just why you say...
[Chorus]
C                        A7
Why did I stray from the righteous path,
D7     G7        C
Nobody knows but me,
C                        A7
There on the outside you all can laugh,
D7                   G7
I don't need your sympathy.
     C                      C7
For after I've paid for the liquor I sold,
     F                         F#dim
I'll leave this place worth my weight in gold.
C                           A7
So why did I stray from the righteous path,
D7     G7         C
Nobody knows but me.
C            G7  C
Nobody knows but me. 
        
                