Artist/Band: Kirk Kemptner Tabs
Song: The Cremation Of Sam Mcgee Tab
THE CREMATION OF SAM McGEE
lyrics: Robert William Service
music and arrangement: Kirk Kemptner
capo: 2nd fret
Am7
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
Dm
By the men who moil for gold;
Am7
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
Dm
That would make your blood run cold;
C G
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
Dm Am
But the queerest they ever did see
Dm E E7 Am
Was that night I cremated Sam McGee.
Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee,
where the cotton bowls and blows.
Why he left his home in the South to roam
'round the Pole, God only knows.
He was always cold, but the land of gold
held him in a spell;
Though he'd often say that he'd sooner live in hell.
On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way
over the Dawson trail.
Talk of your cold! through the parka's fold
it stabbed like a driven nail.
If our eyes we'd close, our lashes froze
till sometimes we couldn't see;
but the only one to complain was Sam McGee.
BRIDGE:
Dm
And that very night, as we lay packed tight
Am
in our robes beneath the snow,
Dm
the dogs were fed, and the stars o'erhead
E E7
were dancing heel and toe,
F
He turned to me, and "Cap," says he,
C
"I'll cash in this trip, I guess;
Dm F E E7
promise me you won't refuse my last request."
VERSE:
Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no;
then he says in a moan:
"It's the cursed cold, and it's got right hold
till I'm chilled down to the bone.
Yet 'tain't being dead -- it's my awful dread
of the icy grave that pains;
promise me you'll cremate my last remains."
A friends last need is a thing to heed,
so I swore I would not fail;
And we started on at the streak of dawn;
but God! he looked so pale.
He crouched in the sleigh, and he raved all day
of his home in Tennessee;
And that night a corpse was all left of Sam McGee.
There wasn't a breath in that land of death,
and I hurried, horror-driv'n,
With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid,
'cause of a promise given;
It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say:
"You may tax your brawn and brains,
But it's up to you to cremate those last remains."
Now a promise made is a debt unpaid,
and the trail has its stern code.
In the days to come, though my lips grew dumb,
in my heart I cursed that load.
The trail was bad, and I felt half mad,
but I swore I would not give in;
When I looked down ole Sam was wearin' a grin.
Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge,
and a derelict there lay;
It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice
she was called the "Alice May".
And I looked at it, and I thought a bit,
and I looked at my frozen chum;
Then "there," said I, "is your cre-ma-tor-eum."
Dm
Some planks I tore from the cabin floor,
Am
and I lit the boiler fire;
Dm
Some coal I found that was lying around,
E E7
and I heaped the fuel higher;
C G
the flames just soared, the furnace roared
F7 Am
such a blaze you seldom see;
E E7 Am
And in those coals I stuffed in Sam McGee.
VERSE:
Then I made a hike, for I didn't like
to hear him sizzle so;
And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled,
and the wind began to blow.
It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled
down my cheeks, and I don't know why;
And the greasy smoke went streaking down the sky.
I do not know how long in the snow
I wrestled with grisly fear;
But the stars came out and they danced about
and again I ventured near;
I was sick with dread, but I bravely said:
"I'll just take a peep inside".
I slowly opened the door wide.
And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm,
in the heart of the furnace roar;
And he wore a smile you could see a mile,
and he said: "Please close that door.
It's fine in here, but I gravely fear
you'll let in the cold and storm --
Since I left Tennessee, it's the first time I've been warm."
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night I cremated Sam McGee.
|
