Beau John

D


[Verse 1]
                            G  
Beau John was a king in his own 
        D
native land,
                        A
He ruled for a thousand days,
         D                         
Till the slave traders came and 
  G             D
they locked him in irons,
And they told him that he'd have to 
   Bm
go away.
     D                  A         
They told him that he'd have to go
  D
 away.


[Verse 2]
                          G        
Beau John got sick on the long 
  D
ocean voyage.
                      A
All around him people died.
D                              G 
They took his friends and they 
             D
threw them overboard.
John hung down his head and he 
Bm
cried.
     D             A         
John hung down his head and he 
  D
cried.


[Verse 3]
                            G  
They sold Beau John down in New 
   D
Orleans,
                            A
To a man with a whip in his hand.
D                       G        
He said farewell to his wife and 
    D
his child,
And they took him to a strange new 
Bm
land.
     D             A           D
They took him to a strange new land.


[Verse 4]
                          G  D
Beau John worked hard for 37 years.
                              A
He worked with a woman by his side.
D                        G       
And on the morn that his last son
     D
 was born,
                           Bm
Beau John laid down and he died.
D              A           D
Beau John laid down and he died.


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[Verse 5]
                        G          
His son grew up just as big as his 
D
dad.
                          A
They called him Beau John too.
        D                      G  
And for one hundred years Beau 
          D
John and his sons,
Did just what the master made them 
Bm
do.
     D                 A          
They did just what the master made
      D
 them do.


[Verse 6]
                       G           
Until one day when the cannon fire 
D
roared.
The master's wife and children did 
A
flee.
     D                 G          
Some men in blue coats rode into 
   D
the yard,
And they told Beau John that he was 
Bm
free.
     D         A              
They told Beau John that he was 
  D
free.


[Verse 7]
                              G  
When the nightriders came for old 
      D
Beau John,
                              A
Little Beau John hid behind a tree.
   D                        G     
He saw what they did and he hit 
           D
the northern trails,
Saying, "Maybe up there they'll let 
   Bm
me be.
D        A                    D
Maybe up there they'll let me be."


[Verse 7]
But they pushed Beau John and they 
G           D
shoved him around,
                             A
Till he didn't know where to turn.
     D                          
Some folks up in Harlem took him 
 G          D
into their home,
                           Bm
And Beau John started into learn.
D         A            D
Beau John started into learn.


[Verse 8]
                             G     
He fought for his country in World 
    D
War One.
                            A
His son fought in World War Two.
         D                 G  
And they learned no matter what 
             D
price they paid,
There were certain things they 
                   Bm
weren't allowed to do.
           D                  
There were certain things they 
 A                  D
weren't allowed to do.


[Verse 9]
                          G        
And then one night on the 
  D
television screen,
                             A
He saw that Medgar Evers was dead.
D                       G        
He took his wife in his arms in 
   D
the night,
And these are the words that he 
Bm
said, Beau John,
D             A             D
These are the words that he said.


[Verse 10]
"Well, they made me a slave and I 
G               D
worked in their fields.
                            A
They made me fight in their war.
D                     G           
They kept me down for four hundred 
 D
years.
                              Bm
But I ain't gonna take it any more.
      D           A           D
No, I ain't gonna take it any more."


[Verse 11]
                             G     
His wife got a letter from a 
  D
Georgia jail,
                       A
From a town called Albany,
         D                     G  
Saying, "I am proud to be your own
      D
 Beau John,
And I ain't coming home till we're 
Bm
free.
    D              A               
No, I ain't coming home till we're 
D
free."