Intro: G  C  G  D  G    C  D  G  Em  C  D  G  C  G 

               C         G       D 
I was born and raised in Boston 
  G 
A place you all know well 
        C     D      G 
Brought up by honest parents 
             C        D 
The truth to you I'll tell 
        G     C      G       D 
Brought up by honest parents 
    G 
And raised most tenderly 
     C   D      G        Em 
'Til I became a sporting lad 
       C      D      G      C  G  D 
At the age of twenty-three 


   G     C       G      D 
My character was taken  
    G 
And I was sent to gaol  
   C            D        G 
My friends they came and tried in vain  
          C      D 
To get me out on bail  
    G    C        G       D 
The jury found me guilty  
        G 
And the clerk he wrote it down  
    C        D          G         
The Judge he passed the sentence 
Em    C         D      G     C  G  D 
I was bound for Charlestown  


      G      C       G      D 
I can see my darling mother 
G 
Standing at the bar  
C        D       G 
Likewise my dear father  
        C       D 
Tearing out his hair  
G       C       G        D 
Tearing out his grey old locks  
       G 
As the tears came trickling down  
    C       D        G        Em 
"My son, my son what have you done  
      C       D      G      C  G  D 
To be sent to Charlestown?"  


      G        C     G         D 
They placed me on an eastbound train  
G 
One cold December day  
    C     D       G 
And every station we passed through  
          C               D 
You could hear the people say  
 G              C      G       D 
"There goes the Boston Burglar  
   G 
In cold chains he is bound  
    C         D   G      
For one crime or another  
Em    C       D      G      C  G  D 
He is sent to Charlestown"  


Instrumental: G  C  G  D  G    C  D  G  Em  C  G  D  C  G 
              G  C  G  D  G    C  D  G  Em  C  D  G  C  G  D 

 G            C         G       
All you who'd have your freedom 

Take warning if you can 
    C        D        G 
And don't go midnight rambling 
                    C       D 
Or you'll break the laws of man 
    G      C         G      D 
And if you do you'll surely rue 
    G 
And wind up just like me 
C         D     G      Em 
Serving up full twenty years  
       C   D     C   G   
In the penitentiary____