Seneca Creek chords by Charles Wesley Godwin

Tuning: Standard (E A D G B E)

Verse 1:
 Am       Em C
In the Spring of 1949
 G            Am
That’s when I crossed the county line
 Am         Em C
It’s there I saw in Seneca Creek
 G              Am
A girl named Ruth who washed her feet
Am           Em C
I told her my name was RC Farris
 G            Am
That I’d marry her with half a karat
Am              Em C
She said "I do, but no stone can reach
G              Am
"The prettiest shine of this here creek"

Verse 2:
 Am            Em C
The mud was Deep and the roads were wide

We’d retreat and then re-take the lines
 Am          Em C
Korean winters had torn me down

And killed all the boys from my hometown
 Am         Em C
But I’m coming home, Ruth, my dear
G             Am
I got money in my pocket, don’t you fear
 Am         Em C
We’ll build a life by Seneca Creek
G              Am
You’ll have everything you’ll ever need


Chorus 1:
 C      G     F
Let’s build a home by Seneca Creek
 C      G    Am
And raise ourselves a family
 C      G          F
I’ll work on the farm, you work the store
 C      G          Am
We’ll have everything we ever hoped for
C      G          F
With the top of a mountain above our heads
C      G          Am
And the roar of Seneca by the bed

Seneca Creek


Verse 3:
 Am           Em C
And sure enough, the hard times came
 G          Am
You loved yours, I did the same
Am           Em C
But we made it through the winter’s cold
 G           Am
And many summers young and old
 Am         Em C
In ’85 the creek did rise
 G          Am
But it only took the other side
 Am              Em C
It took Gandee, North Fork, and South Branch too
 G               Am
The house still stood that I built for you


Verse 4:
 Am      Em C
In ’94 when you got sick
 G             Am
We’d make up trips for the hell of it
 Am       Em C
Take my hand, Ruth, my dear
 G          Am
I’ll take you back to any year
 Am         Em C
And now you lie on the hill up high
 G         Am
Right beneath the mountain sky
 Am         Em C
Seneca Creek sings below
 G          Am
Atop the tree sits a lonely crow


Chorus 2:
 C      G     F
We built a home by Seneca Creek
C      G     Am
And raised ourselves a family
C      G      F
I worked on the farm, you worked the store
C      G      Am
We had everything we'd ever hoped for
C      G      F
With the top of a mountain above our heads
C      G      F
And the roar of Seneca by the bed

Seneca Creek