Bury Me Not on the Lone Prarie
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Public domain
Notated by Greg Vaughn: [email protected]
G G6 Em Em7 Em/G G
«Oh bury me not on the lone prarie»
G G6 Em Em7 Em Em4 G
These words came low and mourn — ful — ly
G G(5) G GM7
From the pallid lips of a youth who lay
G Em Em7 G
On his dying bed at the close of day.
Note: The altered chords are my own addition. I tried to flesh out the
Melody line with them. You can play a simpler version with only G and Em.
Here’s how I play the chords. Each line is a separate fret and the numbers
Are suggested fingerings. Colons mean not to play a string.
G G6 Em Em7 Em/G Em4 G(5) GM7=Gmaj7
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Additional verses:
2. He has wasted and pined ’til o’er his brow
Death’s shades were slowly gathering now.
He thought of home and loved ones nigh,
And the cowboys gathered to see him die.
3. «Oh bury me not on the lone prarie,
Where the coyotes howl and the wind blows free.
In a narrow grave just six by three
Oh bury me not on the lone prarie.»
4. «It matteres not, I’ve oft been told,
Where the body lies when the heart grows cold.
Yet grant, oh grant, this wish to me,
Oh bury me not on the lone prarie.»
5. «I’ve always wished to be laid when I died
In a little churchyard on a green hillside.
By my father’s grave there let me be,
Oh bury me not on the lone prarie.»
6. «I wish to lie where a mother’s prayer
And a sister’s tear will mingle there.
Where friends can come and weep o’er me.
Oh bury me not on the lone prarie.»
7. «For there’s another whose tears will shed
For the one who lies in a prarie bed.
It breaks my heart to think of her now,
She has curled these locks; she has kissed this brow.»
8. «Oh bury me not…» And his voice failed there
But they took no heed to his dying prayer.
In a narrow grave, just six by three,
They buried him there on the lone prarie.
9. And the cowboys now as they roam the plain
For they marked the spot where his bones were lain,
Fling a handful of roses o’er his grave
With a prayer to God, his soul to save.