Long Black Veil
Written by M.J.Wilkin and D.Dil
Performed twice by Bob Dylan, in Wheeling, West Virginia, 28 April 1997
(electric) and in George, Washington, June 17, 2000 (acoustic)
Tabbed by Eyolf Østrem
Below is the acoustic version from 2000. The electric version is played in E (chords: E, B and A), and it’s much slower. Otherwise it’s basically the same arrangement.
C . . Csus4 | C . . .
C (Csus4 C)
Ten years ago on a cold dark night
G F C
Someone was shot 'neath the town hall light
C Csus4 C Csus4 C
The people who saw, well they all agreed
G F C Csus4 C
That the slayer that ran looked a lot like me
The judge said "Son, what is your alibi?
If you were somewhere else you won't have to die"
I spoke not a word though it meant my life
I had been in the arms of my best friend's wife
F C F C
She walks these hills in a long black veil
F C F C
Visits my grave when the night winds wail
C F C
Nobody knows and nobody sees
F G C Csus4 C
Nobody knows but me
C . . . | C . . . |
G . . . | F . C . |
The scaffold was high, eternity near
She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear
But sometimes at night when the cold wind moans
In a long black veil she shivers over my bones
She walks these hills in a long black veil
Visits my grave when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows but me