These chains of sorrow,
they are heavy, it is true
And these locks cannot be broken,
no, not with one thousand keys
Jailer, you drag a
ball and chain you cannot see
You can lay your burden on me
You can lay down your burden on me
You can bring your burden down upon me
But you cant lay down your memory, no
Chorus 1:
Woo woo woo woo wo wo woo woo
Here I go! Knockin on Joe!
This square foot of sky
will be mine til I die
Knocking on Joe
Woooo wooo wooo
All down the row Knockin on Joe
O Warden I surrender to you
Your fists can't hurt me anymore
You know, these hands will never mop
your dirty Death Row floors
O Preacher, come closer,
you don't scare me anymore
Just tell Nancy not to come here
tell her not to come
and let me die
in the memory of her arms
Chorus 2:
O woo woo woo Woo woo woo
All down the row Knockin on Joe
O you kings of halls and ends of halls
You will die within these walls
And I'll go,
down the row Knockin on Joe
O Nancy's body is a coffin,
she wears my tombstone at her head
Her body is a coffin,
she wears my tombstone at her head
She wears her body like a coffin
She wears a dress of gold and red
She wears a dress of gold and red
She wears a dress of red and gold
Grave-robbers at my coffin
before my body's even cold
Chorus 3:
It's a door for when I go
Knockin on Joe
These hands will never mop
your dirty Death Row floors
No! You can hide! You can run!
You can run, You can hide
You can stay, you can come
O but your trial is yet to come
Woooo wooo wooo
O you can run! You can hide!
But you have yet to be tried!
You can lay your burdens down here
You can lay your burden down
Knockin on Joe
You can lay your burden upon me
You can lay your burden on me
Knockin on Joe
You can lay it down here
You can bring your burden down
Knockin on Joe
You cant hurt me anymore, no
You cant hurt me anymore
Knockin on Joe oo
You can bring your burdens down
You can bring your burdens down here
Chords used:
Ebmaj7sus2(#11) X6776X (Eb A D F) : [X Root #11 maj7 sus2 X]
Dm X5776X
Gm 355333
Dm X5776X
Eb X68886
Cm X35543
*Ebmaj7sus2(#11) just labelled as Eb+ in the song to reflect the fact its
half of one beat.