##---------------------------------PLEASE NOTE----------------------------##
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of #
#the song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or   # 
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                    Steel Rail Blues - Gordon Lightfoot
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By John Will
sbw@sk.sympatico.ca

This arrangement is from the "Gord's Gold" compilation. It seems to be
somewhere between C# and D; I think my cassette is off speed.I suspect
Gord capos the 2nd fret, as he often does, which would of course put it 
in D, but it's easy enough to play in whatever key is comfortable. 
Open with a country-style "walking" bass/alternating strum pattern:

  C /  / etc.               (lead into verse)  
e:--0--0--|--0--0--|-0--0--|---------|
B:--1--1--|--1--1--|-1--1--|---------|
G:--0--0--|--0--0--|-0--0--|---------|
D:--2--2--|--2--2--|-2--2--|---------|
A:3-------|-3------|3------|3---0--2-|
E:---3----|----3---|---3---|--3------|Continue this style throughout.

This is very simplified, but gives the basic idea.There's a little lick
added with the 2nd guitar(probably Red Shea),after each refrain,like this:

E||--5-3--5-3---------------|-----------------------|
B||------------5--3--1------|-----------------------|
G||-------------------------|--2p-0-----------------|
D||-------------------------|--------2p-0-----------|
A||-------------------------|--------------3--------|
E||-------------------------|-----------------------|

C
Well I got my mail late last night
                         C7                F
A letter from a girl who found the time to write
                                      C
To her lonesome boy somewheres in the night
    F                 
She sent me a railroad ticket too
                         C
To take me to her lovin' arms
                  Am                  G7
And the big steel rail gonna carry me home
             C    Em  Am  G7
To the one I love

Well I been out here many long days
I haven't found a place that I could call my own
Not a two bit bed to lay my body on
I been stood up, I been shook down
I been dragged into the sand
And the big steel rail gonna carry me home
To the one I love

Refrain:

F / / / Em / / / 
Ooh---------------

Am / / /      C / / / / / / /
Ooh  whoo hoo hoo

F / Em / Am / G7 C / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
Ooh---------------------

Well I been uptight most every night
Walkin' around the streets of this old town
Not a friend around to tell my troubles to
My good old car, she done broke down
'Cause I drove it into the ground
And the big steel rail gonna carry me home 
To the one I love

Well look over yonder across the plain
The big drive wheels a-poundin' along the ground
Gonna get on board and I'll be homeward bound
Now I ain't had a home cooked meal
And Lord I need one now
And the big steel rail gonna carry me home 
To the one I love

(Refrain)
Now here I am with my hat in my hand
Standin' on the broad highway, will you give a ride
To a lonesome boy who missed the train last night
I went into town for one last round
And I gambled my ticket away
And the big steel rail won't carry me home
To the one I love
(Refrain X2)