------------------------------------------------
| Dyin' Crapshooter's Blues |
| Jack White, live at the Garden Bowl in Detroit |
| June 3, 2001 |
| Written by Blind Willie McTell |
| Tabbed by Patrick Ferris |
------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Tab Definitions: |
| Gm: 355333 |
| D: x5777x |
| G: 320003 |
| A: x02220 |
| C: x3555x |
| Bb5: x133xx |
| b: Bend note |
|N.C.: No Chord played |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jack experiments with different chord progressions over the course of the song. The key changes frequently,
as the Gm bar chords become open G major chords, and back again. The words, too, are interpreted creatively,
making them difficult to decipher. Where that is the case, they have been replaced with the original song
lyrics in parenthesis.
Loose timing.
VERSE 1:
Gm D
Little Jesse was a gambler, won a gang of change
Gm
He used crooked cards and dice
D
Sentimental boy, sir, but he had no soul
G
His heart was hard and cold like ice
Little Jesse was a reckless gambler
D
And he won a gang of change
G
Many a gambler's heart he left in pain
D
He was a cool-hearted man, but he was left all alone
G
His heart had even turned to stone
D
The police came and shot my friend Jesse down
G
Said, "Boy, you got to die today"
A
He (had) a gang of crapshooters around his graveside
G
And these are the words that he had to say:
BRIDGE:
e|------------------------------------------
B|------------------------------------------
G|------------------------------------------
D|------------------------------------------
A|-3b----3b-3b----3b-3b4--3b--3b------1-----
E|-------------------------------0-------3--
"I guess I ought to know how I want to go"
G
"How do you wanna go, Jesse?"
VERSE 2:
Gm
I want eight crapshooters to be my pallbearers
A Gm
Let 'em all be dressed down in black
I want nine men goin' to the graveyard
D Gm
But only eight men's comin' back
A
I want's a gang of gamblers gathered 'round my coffin-side
G
Put a crooked (printed) card on my hearse
A N.C. A N.C.
Well, don't say no crapshooters'll ever grieve over me
D
My life's been a doggone curse
VERSE 3:
Gm
Twelve straight-shooters up on the graveyard
A C Gm
(Dig my grave with the ace of spades)
I want twelve policemen in the funeral march
D Gm
I just playin' blackjack dead, lead the parade
A N.C.
I want the judge (and solicitor) who jailed me fourteen times
A G
(Put a pair of) dice in my shoes
Bb5
Let a pair of cards be my tombstone
A Gm
I got the Dyin' Crapshooter's Blues
VERSE 4:
Gm
He got sixteen real good crapshooters
D
Sixteen bootleggers to sing a song
Sixteen racket men gamblin'
Gm
With a couple tend bar while it's rollin' along
He wanted twenty-two women outta the Hamilton Hotel
D
Twenty-six outta South Bell
Well, twenty-nine women outta North Atlanta
Gm
Know that little Jesse didn't fair so swell
VERSE 5:
Gm
His heart was achin', head was thumpin'
Little Jesse hit the ground bouncin' and jumpin'
"Folks, don't (be standin' around)," Jesse's cryin'
G N.C.
He wants all the boys to do the Charleston whilst he's dyin'
Gm
One foot up, a toenail draggin'
Throw my buddy Jesse in the hoodoo wagon
Bb5
Come here, mama, with that can of booze
I got the Dyin Crapshooter's --
e|---------------
B|---------------
G|---------------
D|---------------
A|---------------
E|-1-----2----3--
Goin' down slow
Bb5
I got the Dyin' Crapshooter's --
e|----------------
B|----------------
G|----------------
D|----------------
A|----------------
E|-1-------2---3--
Leavin' the world
Bb5 A G
I got the Dyin' Crapshooter's Blues
G Gm
