Song: Thirsty Boots
Artist: Bob Dylan
Album: The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969–1971), 2013
Written: Eric Andersen (with amendments by Dylan)
URL’s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirsty_Boots
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The_Bootleg_Series_Vol._10:_Another_Self_Portrait_%281969%E2%80%931971%29
Tempo: Moderato
Style: Folk & Blues
Tuning: Standard
Capo 5
Chords:
EADGBe
G 320003
Bm X24432
Am X02210
D XX0232
Em 022100
C 332010
INTRO:(Acoustic lead, piano and harmonica over)
|G Bm|Am D| x4
VERSE 1:
G Bm
You've been long and on the open road,
Am D
You’ve been sleepin’ in the rain.
G Em
From the dirty words and muddy cells,
Am D
Your clothes are smeared and stained.
G Em
But the dirty words and muddy cells,
Am D
Will soon be judged insane.
G C
So only stop and rest yourself,
Am D
’Til you are off again.
CHORUS 1:
G C
And, take off your thirsty boots,
G C
And stay for awhile.
G Em
Your feet are hot and weary,
Am D
From a dusty mile.
G C
And maybe I can make you laugh,
Am D
And maybe I can try.
G Em
Just looking for the evening,
C D G
And the mornin’ in your eye.
REFRAIN:(Acoustic lead over)
|G Em|C D|
VERSE 2:
G Bm
Then tell me of the ones you saw,
Am D
As far as you could see.
G Em
Across the plains from field to town,
Am D
Marching to be free.
G Bm
And of the rusty prison gates,
Am D
That tumble by degree,
G C
Like laughing children, one by one,
Am D
Who look like you and me.
CHORUS 2:
G C
Then, take off your thirsty boots,
G C
And stay for awhile.
G Em
Your feet are hot and weary,
Am D
From a dusty mile.
G C
And maybe I can make you laugh,
Am D
And maybe I can try.
G Em
Just looking for the evening,
Am D G
And the mornin’ in your eye.
INSTRUMENTAL:(Acoustic lead, piano and harmonica over)
|G Em|Am D| x4
VERSE 3:
G Bm
I know that you’re no stranger,
Am D
Down the crooked rainbow trail.
G Em
From dancing cliffheads, shattered sills,
Am D
Of slandered shackled jails.
G Bm
But the voices drift up from below,
Am D
As his walls are being scaled.
G
And all of this,
Em
And more my friend,
Am D
Your song shall not be failed.
CHORUS 3:
G Em
Then, take off your thirsty boots,
Am D
And stay for awhile.
G Em
Your feet are hot and weary,
Am D
From a dusty mile.
G C
And maybe I can make you laugh,
Am D
And maybe I can try.
G Em
Just looking for the evening,
Am D G
And the mornin’ in your eye.
CODA:(Acoustic lead, piano and harmonica over)
|G Em|Am D| x4
|G |
[End]
1. "Thirsty Boots" is a Civil Rights era folksong by American singer-songwriter Eric Andersen that first
appeared on his 1966 album 'Bout Changes 'n' Things. According to the album's liner notes, the song "was
written to a civil rights worker-friend. Having never gone down to Mississippi myself, I wrote the song
about coming back."
2. I’ve tried to make it more simply accessible, by changing it’s key to match the recorded version, by
moving the capo to the fifth fret. Hence, these chords could be easily played ‘open’ on a ukulele, which
is in standard A tuning.
3. It has resonance, as this song could easily be about the suffering of present-day refugees and internee’s
in our Australian ’detention centres’, both in and off-shore. :-R
