Slaid Cleaves

Below(Keyboard chords)

Slaid Cleaves

Key: Cm

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                    Bm 
There's an old dirt road just off Route 9 
               G   A                 Bm  
Fades into the lake at the low water line 
            Bm 
Sometimes I wander down that road alone 
                G   A                   Bm  
Remembering the town that I once called home  
 
I grew up in the valley, every neighbor a friend 
Until the modern world started creeping in 
One day came the lawyers with cash in hand 
They swore that our village would light up the land  

G Bm The dusky waters move cold and slow D A7 And ghosts of a village still wander below G Bm Homesteads of families and friends forevermore A G D Haunting the valley below this sparkling shore
Surrounding the valley was a painted red line Drawn by Company men, like marking a crime A silent reminder that all inside it must go Or be lost to the rising Dead River's flow Some folks took the money, started grinding gears While the rest of us held out for twenty-odd years We watched our town like a photograph fade As the Company came to take it all away They tore down the church, the schoolhouse burned They dug up the graves, the wheels of progress turned They got Dutchie's Store and Haven's Pool Hall When the dozers rolled it shattered us all Chorus Old May Savage stayed as long as she could Her house on the hill towered over the flood It rose up alone in the dark of night Its face on the water in the cold moon light I shake off the memories, on my lips a prayer Thanks for the grace and the beauty down there And while the porchlights glow all over the state There's nothing but darkness under the lake Chorus

Written by Slaid Cleaves

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