A Cold Lump Of Coal by David Allan Coe, tabs and chords at PlayUkuleleNET

A Cold Lump Of Coal

Biography:

David Allan Coe (born September 6, 1939) is an American singer and songwriter. Coe took up music after spending much of his early life in reform schools and prisons, and first became notable for busking in Nashville. He initially played mostly in the blues style, before transitioning to country music, becoming a major part of the 1970s outlaw country scene. His biggest hits were "Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile", "The Ride", "You Never Even Called Me by My Name", "She Used to Love Me a Lot", and "Longhaired Redneck".

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Four years of hard work!

This month of May we celebrated four years on the air. We continue working on the dissemination of this wonderful instrument, thank you for participating in our story!

SPOKEN: This last song is a song that I wrote which is a song against capitol punishment.
And I would like very much for that to be stated somewhere along the way, that this
is a song against capitol punishment. I wrote this song for my fahter who is
doin' life in Ohio State Penitenciary; he's been there for 23 years.

INTRO:
G C-G G D-G

G C G
There is a story the coal miners tell
D
In Hazzard Kentucky about a woman called Nell
C G
She came there from somewhere just her and a child
D G
And bought her a farm in the valley

G C G
Now rumor says she had a whole lot of money
D
That boy never would work a day in his life
G C G
And all of the miners, those old forty-niners
D G
Tried harder than ever to make Nell their wife

C D C G
But Nell was a lady content with the baby
D
She'd had a good man who was lost in the mine
G C G
At night she would listen for sounds of his hammer
D G
And look in the coal miners' faces for signs

G C G
For years people talked of the pretty young woman
D
The boy, long neglected, had turned to a man
G C G
Who walked thru the tunnels in search of his daddy
D G
And carried a cold lump of coal in his hand

C D C G
She called the boy David, a name from the Good Book
D
For she believed prayin' was good for the soul
G C G
She'd found him abandoned when he was a baby
D G
Clutched tight in his hand was a cold lump of coal

C G C G
Now the truth of the matter, she tried to keep secret
D
But small towns know more than a body should tell
G C G
And it wasn't long 'til the story was proven
D G
For someone had murded the lady called Nell

G C G
The investigation meant questioning David
D
They hounded that boy 'til he lost self control
C G C G
It seems on the floor underneath that old lady
D G
Just touching her head was a cold lump of coal

G C G
Now witnesses swore 'twas the work of the devil
D
'Cause Jesus could never have been that unkind
C G C G
The jury said guilty, the judge had no mercy
D G
The boy was convicted of serious crime

C D C G
And it wasn't long after the boy's execution
D
A man name of Billy confessed to the kill
G C G
His conscience was burdened with innocent bodies
D G
For he swore he'd only been doing God's will

C D C G
He told in a vision the Lord had come to him
D
And whispered go down and take that woman's life
G C G
For she is a sinner not fit to be livin'
D G
Go down there and kill her but don't use your knife

C D C G
Now wait 'til the boy leaves to look for his daddy
D
He'll be forgotten down there in that hole
G C G
Billy confessed how he snuck up behind her
D G
And beat her to death with a cold lump of coal

G C G
Now all of you people that's preaching the gospel
D
Remember repentence must come from the soul
G C G
The Lord knows the answer I'm not free to give it
N/C (D) (C) (G)
For I'm just the voice of a cold lump of coal