G
[Verse]
C G
I stare out every evening at the distant Northern Star
C G
It leads us ever Northward and it tells us that we are
F G
Lost below the Yellowstone, in a land unknown to me
C G
Ten thousand miles from my loved ones and my home across the sea
[Verse]
C G
We travel through an empty land, the benches are all strewn
C G
With Bison bones that shine ghost white ‘neath the rising of the moon
F G
And the red wolf howls an answer as I try to sing on guard
C G
Indentured to these Texans, in a land so wild and hard
[Verse]
C G
When I hired on to Bill Ducharm In the heat of the Texas sun
C G
I was unaware of his darker side, his quickness with a gun
F G
But I made a solemn promise, oh, I’d ride with him through hell
C G
Deliver the herds to the ends of the earth or the mouth of the Musselshell
[Verse]
C G
Well, I just turned about sixteen when we hit that first cow-town
C G
I drank my first strong liquor, ohhh, and the women spun me round
F G
But of all the barroom angels, with their soft forbidden charms
C G
I was stuck on blue-eyed Annie, who belonged to Bill Ducharm
[Chorus]
F C
And the boy became a man
F D
That night in Annie’s arms
F C
Oh, Annie cried and begged me
D D7
Beware of Bill Ducharm
[Verse]
G C G
We left that Texas cow-town, we pointed the big herd north
C G
But the first night when the moon was down, I rode back to old Fort Worth
F G
They were closing up the barroom, oh, they were rolling up the floor
C G
My heart was in my mouth as I knocked on Annie’s door
[Chorus]
F C
And the boy became a man
F D
That night in Annie’s arms
F C
Oh, Annie cried and begged me
D D7
Beware of Bill Ducharm
[Verse]
G C G
Old Bill Ducharm had one bad eye and his face was a devilish red
C G
The results of a bygone ferry fire, when he crawled back from the dead
F G
And every night in dreams, as I rolled in Annie’s arms
C G
I’d wait to face old Satan in the guise of Bill Ducharm
[Verse]
C G
When each night 'cross the campfire, I’d face that one bad eye
C G
Did he know that I’d betrayed him, had my hour come to die?
F G
One promise he made true, ah, we rode with him through hell
C G
We delivered the herds to the ends of the earth and the mouth of the Musselshell
[Chorus]
F C
And the boy became a man
F D
That night in Annie’s arms
F C
Oh, Annie cried and begged me
D D7
Beware of Bill Ducharm
[Instrumental]
G C G C G F G C G
[Verse]
C G
But now as we near the Yellowstone, the snow begins to fall
C G
And soon this dreadful enterprise shall be ending for us all
F G
It’s then I’ll need fast horses, ah, to fly to Annie’s arms
C G
And stay one jump ahead of the guns of Bill Ducharm
[Chorus]
F C
And the boy became a man
F D
That night in Annie’s arms
F C
Oh, Annie cried and begged me
D D7
Beware of Bill Ducharm
[Chorus]
F C
Oh, the boy became a man
F D
That night in Annie’s arms
F C
Oh, Annie cried and begged me
D D7
Beware of Bill Ducharm
[Outro]
G C G
Ooooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
C G
Ooooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
F G
Ohh ohh hmmmmmmmmmm hmmm
C G
Ooooh ooh oooooh ooh ooh oooooh oooh ooh
