From: rickl1@ix.netcom.com
 
 
Cry Cry Cry     Shades Of Gray    written by Robert Earl Keen 

Richard Shindell   vocal
Lucy Kaplanksy     harmony
Dar Williams       harmony
Larry Campbell     guitar/mandolin
Alan Williams      guitar
Richard Gates      bass
Doug Plavin        drums


C#m                E
We made Oklahoma a little after three
B                               C#m 
Randy his brother Bob in my old GMC

We had some moonshine whiskey
        E
Some of Bob's homegrown
        B                                               C#m
We were so messed up we didn't know if we were drunk or stoned 
C#m                  E
Randy was a sad sack tall kinda frail
          B                           C#m
Bob was a ravin' maniac, crazier than hell
                                     E
They'd been kicked outta high school several years ago
     B                                 C#m
For  kickin' over porta-cans at the 4H rodeo 
C#m                                     E
Since then they done their little dance right outside the law
        B                                  C#m
Popped  twice in Oklahoma and once in Arkansas
      C#m                             E
And I don't know what possessed me to want to tag along
       B                                              C#m
Cause  I was raised a Christian and I knew right from wrong 
A                        E
Right or wrong black or  white
B                           C#m
Cross the line you're gonna pay
E      B               C#m
In the dawn before the light
A       B                C#m
Live or die by shades of gray 
C#m
We stole two charolais heifers
     E
From Randy's sweetheart's pa
    B                                           C#m
And sold them at the livestock sales outside of Wichita
C#m                             E
We got nine hundred dollars and never did suspect
    B                                            C#m
The world of hurt we'd be in once we cashed that check
                                   E
Next day we heard the story on the local radio
    B                                       C#m 
And made our plans that very night to go to Mexico
                                      E
And I swear we would've made it if it wasn't for the shine
      B                                          C#m
I got sick about the time we crossed that Kansas line
A                        E
Right or wrong black or  white
B                           C#m
Cross the line you're gonna pay
E      B               C#m
In the dawn before the light
A       B                C#m
Live or die by shades of gray 

SOLO
    
C#m                          E 
I was lying in the bar ditch praying I would die
       B
When a light came on above us
                            C#m
And a voice called from the sky
                                 E
A half dozen unmarked cards came screeching to a halt
             B                                       C#m
They grabbed Bob he started screaming that it was my fault
                            E
There were men and dogs and helicopters flying all around
             B
They had the brothers on the pickup hood
              C#m 
And me on the ground
                                E
Then Bob flew all to pieces but Randy he held tight
       B                                            C#m
When a black man in a suit and tie stepped into the light
 
He told his men to turn us loose
    E
And they put down their guns
        B
He said these are just some sorry kids
                C#m
They ain't the ones
A                        E
Right or wrong black or  white
B                           C#m
Cross the line you're gonna pay
E      B               C#m
In the dawn before the light
A       B                C#m
Live or die by shades of gray 
C#m                          E
They left us by the roadside downhearted and alone
      B                                        C#m
Randy got behind the wheel said boys I'm going home
                                      E
So we turned round and faced our fate hung over but alive
        B                                  C#m 
On that morning Oklahoma late April nintry five


From Cry Cry Cry
Razor & Tie Records 1998
Keen Edge Music (BMI)