Am             Em7 C
In the Spring of 1949
        G                         Am
That’s when I crossed the county line
Am                   Em7     C
It’s there I saw in Seneca Creek
   G                              Am
A girl named Ruth who washed her feet
Am                     Em7  C
I told her my name was RC Farris
          G                     Am
That I’d marry her with half a karat
Am                      Em7        C
She said "I do, but no stone can reach
         G                         Am
"The prettiest shine of this here creek"


[Verse 2]
 Am                       Em7        C
The mud was deep and the roads were wide
       G                           Am
We’d retreat and then re-take the lines
 Am                 Em7     C
Korean winters had torn me down
            G                      Am
And killed all the boys from my hometown
 Am                  Em7      C
But I’m coming home, Ruth, my dear
        G                            Am
I got money in my pocket, don’t you fear
 Am                     Em7   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
  Em7    C
Seneca Creek


[Interlude]
C  Em7  Am  C  G  Am  C  G  Am


[Verse 3]
 Am                   Em7         C
And sure enough, the hard times came
 G                          Am
You loved yours, I did the same
Am                           Em7     C
But we made it through the winter’s cold
     G                      Am
And many summers young and old
Am          Em7       C
In ’85 the creek did rise
 G                          Am
But it only took the other side
 Am                          Em7         C
The Gandee, North Fork, and South Branch too
 G                                     Am
The house still stood that I built for you


[Interlude]
Am  C  G  Am


[Verse 4]
 Am          Em7    C
In ’94 when you got sick
 G                                 Am
We’d make up trips for the hell of it
 Am            Em7      C
Take my hand, Ruth, my dear
      G                    Am
I’ll take you back to any year
 Am                    Em7      C
And now you lie on the hill up high
 G                         Am
Right beneath the mountain sky
 Am            Em7   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       Am
And the roar of Seneca by the bed
  Em7    C
Seneca Creek