Artist: Emmylou Harris | Song: Ballad Of A Runaway Horse

Artist/Band: Harris Emmylou Tabs
Song: Ballad Of A Runaway Horse Tab

Emmylou Harris   Ballad Of A Runaway Horse  written by Leonard Cohen

David Hoffner    keyboards
Richard Bennett  mandocello
Kathy Chiavola   harmony


B
Say a prayer for the cowgirl her horse ran away
       E
She'll walk til she finds him her darling her stray
        B
But the rivers in flood and the roads are awash
        F#                               B
And the bridges break up in the panic of loss
B
And there's nothing to follow nowhere to go
     E 
He's gone like the summer gone like the snow
        B
And the crickets are breaking her heart with their song
       F#                                B
As the day caves in and the night is all wrong
B
Did she dream was it he who went galloping past
    E
And bent down the fern broke open the grass   
    B
And printed the mud with the well-hammered shoe
         F#                                       B
That she nailed to his speed in the dreams of her youth
B
And although he goes grazing a minute away
    E
She tracks him all night she tracks him all day
          B
And she's blind to his presence except to compare
    F#                              B
Her injury here with his punishment there
        E
Then at home on a branch on a high stream
  B        
A Songbird sings out so suddenly 
        E
And the sun is warm and the soft winds ride
     B                  F#     B
On a willow tree by the riverside
B
All the world is sweet and the world is wide
      E
He's  there where the light and the darkness divide
         B
And the steam's coming off him he's huge and he's shy
       F#                                    B
And he steps on the moon when he paws at the sky
B
And he comes to her hand but he's not really tame
   E
He longs to be lost she longs for the same
          B 
And he'll bolt and he'll plunge through the first open pass
  F#                                      B
To roll and to feed in the sweet mountain grass
B
Or he'll make a break for the high plateau
              E
Where there's nothing above and nothing below
     B
It's time for their burden the whip and the spur              
         F#                                 B
Will she ride with him or will he ride with her
      E
So she binds herself to her galloping steed
       B
And he binds himself to the woman in need
          E
And there is no space just left and right
    B                    F#               B
And there is no time but there is day and night
B
And she leans on his neck and whispers low
E
Whither thou goest I will go
         B
And they turn as one and they head for the plain
   F#                                   B
No need for the whip or no need for the rein
B
Now the clasp of this union who fastens it tight
   E 
Who snaps it asunder the very next night
     B
Some say  it's him some say it's her
         F#                             B
Some say love's like smoke beyond all repair
B
So my darling my darling just let it go by
     E
That old silhouette on the great western sky
         B
And I'll pick out a tune and they'll move right along
            F#                                        B
And they're gone like smoke and the're gone like this song
      B
Say a prayer for the cowgirl


    Asylum Records 1993
    From Emmylou Harris "Cowgirl's Prayer"
    Leonard Cohen Stranger Music