C                    Am        C               Am
  The sweet smell of nighttime    rides on the breeze
C              Am       F                     C
  The river is winding    through the hickory trees
C                  Am      C               Am
  The redbones are howling    down by Wilson's Bridge
C                  Am       F                 Am
  The lawmen stand waiting    upon Deadman's  Ridge.

[Chorus]

F    C         G                  Am
 Ooh Carolina,    so dark I can't see
F    C         G                     Am
 Ooh Carolina,   won't you let me go free

[Verse]

C                 Am    C                  Am
 I came here with Lily    a year just last fall
C                Am    F              C
 We left her old daddy    back in Donegal
C             Am         C                    Am
 We made us a home place    of Black Mountain stone
C                    Am      F             Am
 But one cold winter morning    I woke up alone

[Chorus]

F    C         G                  Am
 Ooh Carolina,    so dark I can't see
F    C         G                     Am
 Ooh Carolina,   won't you let me go free

[Verse]

C             Am       C              Am
 Days full of silence     are so incomplete
C               Am    F               C
 Nights without Lily    I took to the streets
C                      Am       C                 Am
 And in the streets of Ashville    I channeled my pain
C               Am          F                 C
 Til one raging black night     I slept in the rain

[Verse]

D               Bm      D              Bm
 I dreamed of a refuge    a red velvet world
D                     Bm    G               D
 And I swore my sweet Lily    was on of the girls
D               Bm     D                 Bm
 I loved her so madly     I loved her so long
D               Bm          G                      Bm
 I woke with my dream girl    but her life was all gone

[Chorus]

G    D         A                  Bm
 Ooh Carolina,    so dark I can't see
G    D         A                     Bm
 Ooh Carolina,   won't you let me go free

[Verse]

D            Bm       D            Bm
 Love has no boundary    sorrow no end
D                  Bm       G                  D
 And the lawmen of Ashville   have no mercy in them

[Chorus]

G    D         A                  Bm
 Ooh Carolina,    so dark I can't see
G    D         A                     Bm
 Ooh Carolina,   won't you let me go free

[Outro]

A              Bm
  Let me reach    Tennessee