G C F C G

[Verse]
G                                           C
Well, I can hear mamma singin' the hangin' tree
 Bb                         C      G
Sound like someone singin' harmony
 G                                     C
And me and my brother we don't make a peep
  Bb                     C         G
We go down slow to the hangin' tree
 G                                  C
Hangin' tree's down by the river's edge
Bb                           C        G
We come up stream and peek over the ledge
 G                                      C
And mamma's got a rope and a kitchen knife
Bb                              C          G
And the harmony singer is the preacher's wife
 G                               C
Mamma put a bible in her right hand
    Bb                     C           G
And asked her if she been seein' her man
 G                                     C
Well, me and my brother don't hear no more
      Bb                    C        G
Cause right then the rain began to pour
 G                                           C
It was an hour past dark when she came back home
Bb                            C       G
And we never saw papa round here no more
 G                                     C
Mamma took to sittin' by the hangin' tree
 Bb                        C          G
But there ain't no body singin' harmony

G C Bb C G

[Verse]
 G                                        C
The preacher's wife she don't leave his side
    Bb                     C       G
And we ain't got papa to tan no hide
 G                             C
My older brother he took his life
    Bb                        C            G
And I took to peepin' on the preacher's wife

[Solo]
G C Bb C G  x6

[Verse]
G                            C
I left my mamma when I was sixteen
F                              C       G
Strung up in the limbs of the hangin' tree