G                      D
Her pride and his joy was raven black
C                   D               G
It ran like a river of silk down her back
G                              D
She brushed it every morning one hundred times
C                             D         G
And he washed it for her on Saturday nights

[Verse 2]
G                               D
Then drought struck the heartland in 1935
C                       D       G
They didn’t have water for Saturday nights
G                                 D
It all seemed so hopeless so she cut it with the shears
C                       D               G
And he held her close and said through her tears

[Chorus]
C                       D       G
I’ll build you a barrel to catch the rain
C                           D
To wash out the dust of the Kansas plain
C                          D               C
I swear you’ll never have to cut your hair again
C                               D
If it’s the last thing I do on this earthly plane
C               D       G
I’ll give you a barrel of rain

[Verse 3]
G                                D
So he worked in the evenings when he finished up the chores
C                                D       G
He cut out some staves from a chest of drawers
G                              D
He bound them with leather, sealed them with tar
C                             D         G
Then he got to his knees and prayed in the yard

[Chorus]
C                       D       G
I’ve built this barrel to catch the rain
C                           D
To wash out the dust of the Kansas plain
C                          D               C
If you give me this, Lord, I’ll never ask for nothing again
C                               D
Just a little thundercloud now and then
C              D               G
To give her a barrel of rain

[Verse 4]
G                                  D
But the rain never came, the barrel sat dry
C                             D       G
She watched as the truth of it ate him alive
G                              D
Then God took the crops, and the bank took back the land
C                             D         G
When his spirit broke, he just folded his hands

[Chorus]
C                       D       G
As the sun beat down on his thirsty grave
C                           D
She thought of the fields that he plowed in vain
C                               D                         C
She screamed at the sky with all her rage and pain
C                            D
He didn’t want much and he never complained
C                       D       G
Dear God, he just wanted a barrel of rain

[Verse 5]
G                               D
Her pride and his joy is now white as milk
C                                 D             G
And it runs down her back like a river of silk
G                              D
All that she brought to these Oregon shores
C                             D         G
Was a barrel made out of an old chest of drawers

[Chorus]
C                                D          G
The neighbors all whisper that she’s insane
C                           D
The way that she stares at the driving rain
C                          D               C
And waits for the gutters to fill it up again
C                              D
Then on Saturday nights if the sky is tame
C                       D       G
She washes her hair in a barrel of rain