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[Verse]
      E                            B
I was standing on the sidewalk in 1945
          E              B
In Jacksonville, Illinois
     E                            B
When asked what my name was there came no reply
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They said I was a deaf and sightless half wit boy
                     E                          B
But Louis was my name, though I could not say it
                      E             B
I was born and raised in New Orleans
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My spirit was wild, so I let the river take it
                        E       B
On a barge and a prayer upstream
           E
Well, they searched for a mother
         E
And they searched for a father
                            B
And they searched till they searched no more
    E
The doctors put to rest their scientific tests
                                  B
And they named me 'John Doe No. 24'
         E                        B
And they all shook their heads in pitty
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For a world so silent and dark
                                           E
Well, there's no doubt that life's a mystery
          B
But so too is the human heart
                      E
And it was my heart's own perfume
               B                  E                  B
When the crepe jasmine bloomed on saint Morgue Avenue
         E
Though I couldn't hear the bells
                  B                          E      B
Of the streetcars coming by toeing the track I knew
        E                B
And if I were an old man returning
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With my satchel and porkpie hat
E                           B
I'd hit every jazz joint on Bourbon
        E                     B
And I'd hit everyone on Basin after that

[Instrumental]
E   B   E   B   E     B   E   B   E   B   E     B

[Verse 2]
               E
The years kept passing as they passed me around
               B
From one state ward to another
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Like I was an orphan shoe from the lost and found
   E                    B
Always missing the other
         B
And they gave me a harp last Christmas
E                              B
And all the nurses took a dance
           E                         B
But lately I've been growing listless
          E                         B
I've been dreaming again of the past
              E
I'm wandering down to the banks
                      B                     E        B
Of the great Big Muddy where the shotgun houses stand
                 E                 B
I am seven years old and I feel my dad
           E         B
Reach out for my hand
                    E               B
While I drew breath no one missed me
                     E               B
So they won't on the day that I cease
E                      B
Put a sprig of crepe jasmine with me
    E                 B
To remind me of New Orleans

[Outro]
E                                  B
I was standing on the sidewalk in 1945
          E              B
In Jacksonville, Illinois