G   C   G

[Verse]
                        D           G
I choose to see not the things that be
                     C              G
Or the miles and the years that are gone
                   C        G
I pay no heed to tomorrow's need
                                C
I'm blinded by the snow and the sun
     G                   C           G
'Til all I can see is my darling and me
                               C
Like young flowers blooming in spring
     G                      D       C
Like flowers we grew and no other I knew
        G           C      G
But the Rose of the San Joaquin

[Verse]
                                  D          G
Ah, the gypsies will dance, while stealing a glance
                C           G
As leaves might blow in the wind
                               C             G
And the fields are worked in a sweat stained shirt
                          C
'Til the workers move on again
        G                        C       G
And the tramps and hawkers, with stories wild
                        C
Beguiled a young boy to dream
  G            D        C
Enticing me to leave my love
    G           C      G
The Rose of the San Joaquin

[Instrumental]
G   D   C  G   C  G

[Verse]
                         D            G
I've watched the rise of light in the sky
                     C          G
Where the sun climbs out of the sea
                        C         G
Seen giants fall in the mountains tall
                                 C
Where the lumbermen cut down the trees
     G                           C          G
I've played in the sand with the gulf coast wind
                                C
And slept in the grass tall and green
    G                         D        C
But nowhere I've been would I go back again
 G           C      G
'Cept to the San Joaquin

[Verse]
                          D             G
But the road back home is long and it's hard
                   C            G
And the miles they stretch into years
                              C     G
And the tramps and hawkers in every town
                            C
Oh god, but it brings me to tears
       G                        C           G
When I got home, I found just a flower on a mound
                               C
It shamed the green grasses of spring
       G                         D              C
And it grew from the grave of my darling little girl
    G           C      G
The Rose of the San Joaquin

[Instrumental]
G   D   C  G   C  G

[Verse]
                     D           G
Oh, see us today out on your highway
                 C          G
Or asleep in the doors of a train
                                 C              G
See the gypsies dance with their damned knowing glances
                                     C
While the peddlers shout out their refrain
    G                     C           G
And who's gonna care, and who's gonna share
                                 C
All the joys, and troubles we've seen?
     G                        D          C
Like ghosts, we roam, without friends or home
      G          C           G
These tramps and hawkers and me
                              D          C
Like ghosts, we roam, without friends or home
      G          C           G
These tramps and hawkers and me