Am C Am C
[Verse]
Am Em G D
Well you could see it in his eyes as they strained against the night
Am Em C
And the bone-white-knuckled grip upon the road
G D Em C
Sixty-five miles into town, and a winter’s thirst to drown
G Am D
A winter still with two months left to go
Am Em G D
His eyes are too far open, his grin too hard and sore
Am Em C
His shoulders too far high to bring relief
G D Em C
But the Kopper King is hot, even if the band is not
G Am D
And it sure beats shooting whiskey-jacks and trees
[Bridge]
Am C Am C
[Verse]
Am Em G D
Then he laughs and says, “It didn’t get me this time, not tonight
Am Em C
I wasn’t screaming when I hit the door.”
G D Em C
But his hands on the tabletop, will their shaking never stop
G Am D
Those hands sweep the bottles to the floor
Am Em G D
Now he’s a bear in a blood-red mackinaw with hungry dogs at bay
Am Em C
And springtime thunder in his sudden roar
G D Em C
With one wrong word he burns, and the table’s overturned
G Am D
When he’s finished there’s a dead man on the floor
[Chorus]
G Am D
Well, they watched for him in Carmacks, Haines, and Carcross
G Am D
With Teslin blocked there’s nowhere else to go
Am Em C
But he hit the four-wheel-drive in Johnson’s Crossing
G Am D
Now he’s thirty-eight miles up the Canol road
G Am D
He’s thirty-eight miles up the Canol road
G Am D
In the Salmon Range at forty-eight below
[Bridge]
Am C Am C
[Verse]
Am Em G D
Well, it’s God’s own neon green above the mountains here tonight
Am Em C
Throwing brittle coloured shadows on the snow
G D Em C
It’s four more hours til dawn, and the gas is almost gone
G Am D
And that bitter Yukon wind begins to blow
Am Em G D
Now you can see it in his eyes as they glitter in the light
Am Em C
And the bone-white rime of frost around his brow
G D Em C
Too late the dawn has come, that Yukon winter has won
G Am D
And he’s got his cure for cabin fever now
[Chorus]
G Am D
Well they watched for him in Carmacks, Haines, and Carcross
G Am D
With Teslin blocked there’s nowhere else to go
Am Em C
But they hit the four-wheel-drive in Johnson’s Crossing
G Am D
Found him thirty-eight miles up the Canol road
G Am D
They found him thirty-eight miles up the Canol road
G Am D
In the Salmon Range at forty-eight below
[Outro]
G Am D
They found him thirty-eight miles up the Canol road
