Big Midnight Special

Carl Smith

Written by Wilma Lee Cooper

Key of G · Chords: I IV V

Verse 1

G            C                           G
Big midnight special shine your light on me
D7                                                   G
Big midnight special shine your ever lovin' light on me

Verse 2

C                                      G
Woke up this morning heard the whistle blow
D7                                    G
The jailer said come boy it's time to go
C                                 G
Never had the blues so in my life before
D7                                  G
Till my baby left me at the station door

Verse 1

G            C                           G
Big midnight special shine your light on me
D7                                                   G
Big midnight special shine your ever lovin' light on me

Verse 3

C                                           G
They put him in a Pullman guards around his door
D7                                         G
Said you off to Atlanta to serve ten years more
C                                       G
He looked all around him in the Pullman car
D7                                         G
Saw the men wearin' cloth hats smokin' big cigars

Verse 1

G            C                           G
Big midnight special shine your light on me
D7                                                   G
Big midnight special shine your ever lovin' light on me

Verse 4

C                                         G
Took him off in Atlanta at the end of the line
D7                                             G
Said you start servin' time boy for your awful crime
C                                       G
Whistle makes me lonesome on a midnight train
D7                                   G
But he knows I'll be waiting on home again

Verse 1

G            C                           G
Big midnight special shine your light on me
D7                                                   G
Big midnight special shine your ever lovin' light on me