[INTRO:] C

[VERSE 1:]

He was standing by the highway

With a sign that just said 'Mother'
                F      C
When he heard a driver coming
        D7           G
About a half a mile away


[VERSE 2:]
       C
And he held the sign up higher

So no decent soul could miss it

It was ten degrees or colder
        G                C
Down by Boulder Dam that day


[VERSE 3:]

He was raised up in Milwaukee

Though he never was that famous
              F      C
He was just a road musician
       D7               G
To the taverns he would go


[VERSE 4:]
        C
Singing songs about the rambling

The loving girls and gambling

How the world fell on his shoulders
        G               C
Back in Boulder I don't know


[INSTRUMENTAL:] C    F    Csus4    C  F    G7


[VERSE 5:]
       C
It was out in Arizona

That he heard the lady listening
                  F      C
To each word that he was singing
        D7                 G
To each line that he would write


[VERSE 6:]
      C
So he sat down by her table

And they talked about the weather

98.6 and rising
        G                C
Down by Boulder Dam that night


[BRIDGE:]
                F                    Csus4
And she told him she would take him
                  F
For a ride in the morning sun
                                 Csus4
Back in Boulder he had told her
                           F                G7
"I don't know when I had a better friend"


[VERSE 7:]
         C
Now he's traded off his Martin

But his troubles are not over
                 F      C
For his feet are almost frozen
        D7             G
And the sun is sinking low


[VERSE 8:]
          C
Won't you listen to me brother

If you've ever loved your mother
                F      C
Please pull off on the shoulder
          D7              G
If you're going Milwaukee way


[OUTRO:]
           C
It's ten degrees and getting colder
        G           C
Down by Boulder Dam today