John Prine

John Prine - Bottomless Lake guitar tab

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From: Phil Scott

Date: Thu, 29 Feb 1996 15:06:55 +1100 (EST)

bottomless_lake.crd, as transcribed by Phil Scott, P.Scott@latrobe.edu.au

BOTTOMLESS LAKE by John Prine

From the album "Aimless Love", Oh Boy Records, 1986

Play with capo on 3rd fret, ie actually in key of A#

I'm not certain I've tracked down all of the chords in

the verse. I've got a sneaking suspicion that there's at

least one variation on an A chord there somewhere, but I

can't tell for the life of me what it is.

Anyway, the following seems to work for me.

(Guitar Intro: G C C C G G G D D D G G G (twice))

G

Here's the story of a man and his family

D G

And a big trip that they took

I heard all about it in a restaurant

D

And I read it in a history book

C G

They rented a car at the Erie Canal

C

But the car didn't have no brake

G

Said ma to pa my God this car

D G

Is gonna fall into the bottomless lake

(guitar: repeat intro)

Well mama turned to daddy with a pale face

She said I've done something horribly wrong

The water's still runnin' in the bathtub

And I think I left the kitchen light on

Then I heard a crash, the car went splash

The compass rolled around and around

Oh, for heaven's sake we fell in a lake

And I think we're all gonna drown

CHORUS

G D

We are falling down

G

Down to the bottom of a hole in the ground

Smoke 'em if you got 'em

C G

I'm so scared, I can hardly breathe

D G

I may never see my sweetheart again

(guitar: repeat intro)

There was plenty of food in the back seat

And the windows were rolled up tight

So we all nibbled on a chicken leg

And told stories way through the night

Pa told one that he told before

And the baby got a bellyache

Said ma to pa, my God this car

Is falling down the bottomless lake

CHORUS

(guitar: repeat intro)

Papa played the music on the radio

Mama rocked the baby to sleep

He said he would'a taken the other road

But he didn't think the lake was that deep

If the ferry'd been there at the end of the pier

We'd be half way to Uncle Jake's

Instead of lookin' at fish out the window, I wish

We'd hit the bottom of the bottomless lake

(repeat) Instead of lookin' at fish out the window, I wish

We'd hit the bottom of the bottomless lake

CHORUS

(guitar: repeat intro twice)

So if you're ever goin' on a big trip

Ya better be careful out there

Start everything on your good foot

Wear clean underwear

Take along a bible in the back seat

Read of David and of Solomon

Coz if you make a mistake in the bottomless lake

You may never see your sweetheart again

If you should make a mistake in the bottomless lake

You may never see your sweetheart again

(repeat) If you should make a mistake in the bottomless lake

You may never see your sweethearts again

That's right...

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