David Bromberg — Mr Bojangles

    	    	Вступление

From the album "Demon In Disguise" (1972)
Youtube link: https://youtu.be/qH5XmLXZPyo
Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/track/0N0HcdE2UhjMktUOZKyUcf?si=ded9e481c1104f05

Capo on 2nd fret


[Intro]
| C      | C/B    | Am7    | Am7/G  |
| C      | C/B    | Am7    | Am7/G  |


[Verse 1]
         C                 C/B           Am7    Am7/G
I knew a man Bojangles and he danced for you
F            G7
 In worn out shoes
     C                     C/B              Am7    Am7/G
With silver hair, a ragged shirt, and baggy pants
F                    G7
 He did the old soft shoe
F             C                 E7        Am    Am/G
 He jumped so high, you know he jumped so high
D7/F#                        G   G6   G7   G6   G
 And then he lightly touched down


[Chorus]
Amadd9    G7
 Mister Bojangles
Amadd9    G7
 Mister Bojangles
Amadd9    G7
 Mister Bojangles
      C    C/B    Am7    Am7/G
C’mon dance


[Verse 2]
C               C/B                Am7   Am7/G
 I met him in a cell down in New Orleans, alright
F               G7
 I was down and out
C                   C/B    Am7        Am7/G
 He looked to me to be the eyes of age
F                  G7
 As he spoke right out
F             C             E7        Am    Am/G
 He talked of life, yes, he talked of life
D7/F#                              G   G6   G7   G6   G
 He laughed and slapped his leg a step


[Verse 3]
                   C                   C/B      Am7   Am7/G
He said the name Bojangles and then he danced a lick
F           G7
 Across the cell
               C               C/B                     Am7   Am7/G
He grabbed his pants a better stance, oh, he jumped up high, high
F               G7
 He clicked his heels
F            C                  E7       Am    Am/G
 He let go a laugh, you know he let go a laugh
D7/F#                           G   G6   G7   G6   G
 He shook back his clothes all around


[Chorus]
Amadd9    G7
 Mister Bojangles
Amadd9    G7
 Mister Bojangles
Amadd9    G7
 Mister Bojangles
      C    C/B    Am7    Am7/G
C’mon dance


[Spoken Interlude]
                 C                                    C/B
This is really a true story, ya know. A lot of people had heard the song
   Am7       Am7/G                                 C
And well, at least Jerry Jeff has told me it was a true story
  C/B                           Am7                  Am7/G
I played guitar with Jerry Jeff Walker for about two years and
            C                        C/B  Am7              Am7/G
We did this song every night for two years and I never got tired of it
C  C/B                 Am7        Am7/G
    Jerry got a little tired of it
   C                                        C/B                Am7    Am7/G
At night after the clubs closed we would do horrible things to it
         C              C/B   Am7                 Am7/G
It was a true story, he, this guy, Bojangles was a
C                              C/B                     Am7            Am7/G
 He was a street dancer in New Orleans. What he do was go from bar to bar
      C              C/B                             Am7                Am7/G
And ah, he put-a, he put money in the jukebox or get someone else to do it
                         C                      C/B                      Am7                  Am7/G
And then he would either dance or pantomime the tune, right and for that people would buy him drinks
C                                        C/B                     Am7
 Get him pretty drunk, and then he would go onto the next bar and
         Am7/G                        C                            C/B           Am7
The next one until it was closing time and then he would do it the next night and
Am7/G                                             C
After a few night of this, he would end up on the corner
                            C/B                    Am7        Am7/G
And the cops would pick him up and take him to the drunk-tank
                     C           C/B    Am7
Which is where Jerry Jeff met him
Am7/G          C                          C/B      Am7    Am7/G
Ah, Jerry Jeff wasn’t there on a research project, I...
                           C                        C/B
I mean the way I got that story, I, I may have that wrong
                           Am7                  Am7/G                                  C          C/B
But the way I got that was he propositioned the right woman, at the right time, in the wrong place
Am7                   Am7/G
 And her husband, the bartender
C  C/B                      Am7   Am7/G
    Ah, called the cops and they, ah
          C         C/B  Am7            Am7/G
They took Jerry, ah,      to the parish jail
C  C/B   Am7                      Am7/G                        C
     And he, he and this guy just talked for three days in the cell about
                       C/B    Am7    Am7/G
You know about what he does


[Verse 4]
           C                            C/B              Am7   Am7/G
He said he danced for those at minstrel shows and county fairs
F               G7
 Throughout the south
    C                  C/B            Am7             Am7/G
He spoke with tears of fifteen years, how his dog and him
F          G7
 Traveled about
F               C                  E7         Am    Am/G
 His dog up and died, you know his dog up and died
D7/F#                   G           G6   G7   G6   G
 After twenty years he still grieves


[Verse 5]
           C                  C/B             Am7   Am7/G
He said, I dance now at every chance in honky-tonks
F               G7
 For drinks and tips
    C                       C/B               Am7   Am7/G
But most the time I spend behind these county bars
F                 G7
‘Cause I drinks a bit
F             C   E7                   Am    Am/G
 He shook his head and as he shook his head
D7/F#                G   G6   G7   G6   G
 I heard someone ask please


[Chorus]
Amadd9    G7     Amadd9    G7
 Mister Bojangles
Amadd9    G7
 Mister Bojangles, c’mon


[Instrumental Interlude]
| C      | C/B    | Am7    | Am7/G  |
| F      | F      | G7     | G7     |
| C      | C/B    | Am7    | Am7/G  |
| F      | F      | G7     | G7     |
| F      | F      | C      | E7     |
| Am     | Am/G   | D7/F#  | D7/F#  |
| G      | G6     | G7     | G6  G  |
| Amadd9 | Amadd9 | G7     | G7     |
| Amadd9 | Amadd9 | G7     | G7     |
| Amadd9 | Amadd9 | G7     | G7     |
| C      | C/B    | Am7    | Am7/G  |
| C      | C/B    | Am7    | Am7/G  |
| C      | C/B    | Am7    | Am7/G  |


[Outro]
         C                    C/B        Am7    Am7/G    F    G7    C
I knew a man Bojangles and he danced for you