G

[Verse 1]
G             C                   G   C
Me and Willie played in a country band
           G              D
Seven long years together playing those one-night stands
G                                      C                 G
We used to say the booze and bars were going to wear him out
C            G                  D
"Hold On", a song he wrote will tear your heart right out

[Verse 2]
G                                       C                    G
We traveled the northern route from the Great Lakes to Montreal
C               G             D
Hitting all the honky tonks I bet we played them all
G                                     C                 G
Willie played to ease his soul and he drank to ease his mind
C                         G              D
I never understood how he played so good drinking himself half-blind

[Chorus]
D       C                D           Em          C
And you wouldn't think a man so weak could be so strong
Am              Em               D
Take a crowd of rowdy drunks and hush them with a song
    G             C                    D             Em    C
And I'd rather be singing my heart out in a dark and dingy bar
              G               D
Hitting those high notes with Willie's sad guitar
        G         C               D            Em        C
And I'd rather be singing a blues song singing sweet and high
                      G          D               G    G
Willie standing right by my side playing country slide

[Verse 3]
G             C                           G
Me and Willie watched a lot of dreams die young
C                 G               D
Plans we made how quick they fade fumbling one by one
G                                        C             G
Willie never let it bother him and if he did it didn't show
C                        G              D
You know he had a way of letting go and making the blue turn gold

[Chorus]
D       C                D           Em          C
And you wouldn't think a man so weak could be so strong
Am       D           Em             D
Take the blues right out of you and put them in a song
        G         C                    D             Em    C
And I'd rather be singing my heart out in a dark and dingy bar
              G               D
Hitting those high notes with Willie's sad guitar
        G         C               D             Em        C
And I'd rather be singing a blues song, singing sweet and high
                      G          D               G
Willie standing right by my side playing country slide

[Instrumental]
G C D Em C G D G

[Verse 4]
G                  C          G
I left Willie in a bar in Mariett
C                           G          D
Couldn't stand to watch the man I love drink himself to death
G                                 C             G
And I'm working in Ottawa and I'm doing well, I guess
C                        G       D
The good life don't look so good from behind a desk

[Reprise]
G             C                    D             Em    C
I'd rather be singing my heart out in a dark and dingy bar
              G               D
Hitting those high notes with Willie's sad guitar
        G         C               D            Em        C
And I'd rather be singing a blues song singing sweet and high
                      G          D               G     C
Willie standing right by my side playing country slide