Cold River chords by John Hiatt

Tuning: Standard (E A D G B E)

🎸 Verse 1:
G
Well he packed up his suitcase
      C  G  D
'Cause the deal gone down
    D
She was slipping on her stockings
    C         G
Lord it made the sweetest sound



🎸 Verse 2:
G

There was a baby in the reeds
     C    G    D
Along the river outside of town
   D
As he wound his pocket watch
      C        G
To set time spinnin' 'em all around


🎸 Verse 3:
G
Wasn't long they'd be forgetting
     C   G   D
This old rainy Texas day
    D
Little fella wasn't meant
       C    G
For this old world anyway


🎸 Verse 4:
G
Gambling and whoring
C   G     D
Hiding from plain view
    D
Tell me which one of us rounders
     C           G
Would you trust this poor child to?


🎸 Chorus:
     C  G    D G
You just roll on cold ri-ver
D      G   C
Wash little Moses down
     Em  D  G Em C  G
We've got busi-ness to at-tend to
D    G C
In Chicago town
C G  D   G
In Chi-ca-go town


🎸 Verse 5:
G
Well they rolled out of Austin
    C    G   D
On some kind of cattle train
      D
She'd been with him for a year
    C        G
Didn't know his second name


🎸 Verse 6:
G
He worked the small towns hustling nine ball
  C     G      D
She hooked the truck stops too
     D
They were trying to make Chicago
      C          G
Before the winter come blowing through


🎸 Verse 7:
G
Some trucker sprang a leak
    C   G    D
In California they supposed
    D
Started working Arizona
     C         G
Lord she missed the Bloody Rose


🎸 Verse 8:
G
They rambled through the southwest
    C     G   D
Making money and making time
     D
But they never could find no help
   C        G
Not a doctor, not that kind


🎸 Chorus:
     C  G    D G
You just roll on cold ri-ver
D      G   C
Wash little Moses down
     Em  D  G Em C  G
We've got busi-ness to at-tend to
D    G C
In Chicago town
C G  D   G
In Chi-ca-go town


🎸 Verse 9:
G
Some women love their babies
   C   G     D
Some women won't have one
   D
Some Texas woman found him
  C         G
And we're still on the run


🎸 Verse 10:
G
The kind of life we're living
   C  G    D
He'd only slow us down
   D
Ain't good for nothing anyway
   C        G
Just rambling town to town


🎸 Chorus:
     C  G    D G
You just roll on cold ri-ver
D      G   C
Wash little Moses down
     Em  D  G Em C  G
We've got busi-ness to at-tend to
D    G C
In Chicago town
C G  D   G
In Chi-ca-go town


🎸 Verse 11:
G
Well he unpacked his suitcase
  C     G     D
She pulled her stockings down
D
Dreaming up a pool hall
  C       G
And shooting up a round


🎸 Verse 12:
G
She thought about tomorrow
     C   G   D
When the money rolled around
D
That night they slept like babies
C     G
In Chicago town