Em
The snow falls on the passes

And it covers up the rails
         D                             Em
And the hired men ride up to make them clean
       Em
It's a winter camp and a frozen damp

And a shovel in your hand
      D                                     Em
And a coal train comes rumbling through the seam


     Am                        
That morning came up shining
          G
Clear and sharp as broken glass
         D                       Em
We were riding for the tracks at Sugaree
      Am
All holler and high spirit
        G
And the devil take the last
    D                        Em
And Henry lay a wager then to me

    Em             
He said "I've got five dollars
         
And a whiskey at the bar
 D                               Em
Says I make the tracks ahead of you"
       Em
So we touched our horses up
                                 
Sent them running down the hill
      D                              Em
And I did something I never meant to do

    Am                    
Well I cut hard behind him
         Em
From his blind side I come around
D                               Em
Just as we were going down the scree
   Am                                              Em
I only meant to scare him but he tumbled to the ground
        D                         Em
And he broke his neck beneath the doubletree

       G                         D         Em
So you take him cut him out in a length of pine
G                          D               
Lay him out in a suit of clothes
G                 C
Best that you can find
G            D             Em
Lay his body gentle in the ground
    C                D
And say a prayer for Henry
   G                Em
Before you lay him down

     Em                                        
The night before poor Henry died
                                        
We slept on open ground
     D                             Em
The circus of the stars a blaze of white
Em                                                               
Henry was the best friend that I ever had
      G                      D           Em
And I slept still as a child      that night