Johnny Cash - Orphan of the Road: chords

       C#                G#         F#        D#        G#
From a carny show and a rodeo that shared a three-day stand
   F#           G#          C#
A cowboy met a fiery carny queen
    C#                 G#                    F#      D#    G#
In new spring nights amid the lights of the painted carny van
      F#                     G#                 C#
They laughed and loved and shared short-lived dreams
But the carny show and the rodeo went their separate ways
And the carny season bloomed and soon moved on
And I was born on a winter morn to the dark-eyed carny queen
The too-late son of something that was gone

Chorus:
     F#                      G#
The black-sheep child that grew up wild
          C#                  F#
from the seed the four winds sowed
          G#    C#
Unwanted son of ice and fire,
   F#     G#      C#
an orphan of the road

I was still a child when my mama died of
a chill that closed her eyes
So I was left to grow up on my own
Without a name, too wild to tame. No one cared to try
So mostly I was mostly left alone
In dingy bars and cold boxcars, hobo jungle camps
I joined the men who drift from town to town
The surging flood of restless blood flowed inside my veins
I'd never find the time to settle down

Chorus

In the misty rain, I caught the train
that slowed down through the town
And I pulled myself into the boxcar door
In a passing light in the deep gray night,
I saw the still dark form
Of an old man lying sick upon the floor
And he said "I tried to find her,
but they told me that she'd died
And that she'd left an only son behind
And I tried to find him, but I never did,
but I know I could rest in peace
If I could just see him once before I die
I found a match and I quickly
scratched it into a flicker and flame
Then I held it close and I gently raised his head
My mother, sir," I said of her,
"I have her same dark eyes
He smiled a cowboy smile and then was dead

Chorus