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