C                F              C                 F    
I was born on Stagger Mountain in the sunshine and the snow 
      C              Bb       F      G 
And leaving was the first mistake I made 
       C                 G             F             C 
But I hungered for the shadows in the valley down below 
       C                    Bb              C 
And a girl that danced the tune the devil played 

      C                  F                C                F 
Her smile was like the blinding light of sunshine on the snow 
          C              Bb        F       G 
And the flashing of her hair was black as sin. 
         C             G               F              C 
And her body set the smokes of hell a-boiling in my skull 
          C             Bb              C 
When the fiddle of the devil made her spin. 

         F                               C 
Born in sunshine sunshine high on the mountain, 
          G   F              C 
Where the air   is pure and cold; 
             G        F          C 
But there's darkness    in the shadows 
        Bb            C 
In the canyons of my soul. 

C 

     C                 F            C            F 
The lantern cast her shadow like a demon on the wall 
         C                Bb     F        G 
And the naked sweat was gleaming on her skin; 
           C                 G             F               C 
Then the room was spinning closer as her clothes began to fall 
         C              Bb              C 
And the eagle started screaming in my brain 

        C                 F            C                F 
Then I saw the laughing dagger and I heard the devil scream 
           C                Bb     F      G 
And her bleeding heart was beating in my hand. 
          C              G              F             C 
Then the darkness flew away and I was standing by a tree 
         C             Bb              C 
With a hanging rope a-danglin' from a limb. 

         F                               C 
Born in sunshine sunshine high on the mountain, 
          G   F              C 
Where the air   is pure and cold; 
             G        F          C 
But there's darkness    in the shadows 
        Bb            C 
In the canyons of my soul. 

C