Tiger Whitehead

 C                                  G
Wild blackberries bloomin' in the thickets on the mountain,
C                                     G
    sheep shire and water cress are growin' round the fountain,
         C                                  G           Em
where a big black bear is drinkin' lappin' water like a dog,
 A                              D             D7
Tiger Whitehead's in the bed, sleepin' like a log.
       C                             G                 C
But tomorrow he'll see bear tracks        seven inches wide,
        G                D               G
and by sundown he'll be bringin' in the hide.

G                 C              G                 C
   Pretty Sally Garland comin' down the mountain side,
         G                 D               G           D
    where Tiger Whitehead's tryin' to nap a mill, at the mill,
         G              C                G                   C
    she sits down on a bearskin and she says, “You'll be my man,
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    I'll have me the best bearhunter in these hills.”

       G              C               G               C
    A wild child was Tiger Whitehead and they say he killed
         G             D              G             D
    ninety-nine bears before he went to rest, went to rest,
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    once he left two bearcubs orphaned but he brought 'em right on home,
               G                  D              G    G7
    and Sally nursed the two bearcubs upon her breast.

G                 C                  G            C
    Tiger now is eighty-five and he lay upon his bed,
          G                    D              G            D
    and the bears he killed now numbered ninety-nine, ninety-nine.
          G                   C               G                  C
    Some fellers trapped the bear, but Tiger said, “Just let him go,
        G                D                G
    if he ain't running wild he won't be mine.”

               Em
    But at the night when the wind howls
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    'cross the hills of eastern Tennessee,
         Em
    and when the lightnin' flashes,
                                        A               D
    there's the strange thing that the people say they see :
        C                               G                C
    an old grey headed ghost runnin' through mountains there,
                 G              D                G    G7
    it's Tiger Whitehead after his one hundredth bear.

 C                                  G
Wild blackberries bloomin' in the thickets on the mountain,
C                                     G
    sheep shire and water cress are growin' round the fountain,
         C                                   G           Em
where a big black bear is drinkin', lappin' water like a dog,
 A                              D            D7
Tiger Whitehead's in the bed, sleepin' like a log.
       C                             G                 C
But tomorrow he'll see bear tracks        seven inches wide,
        G                D               G
and by sundown he'll be bringin' in the hide.