Gum Tree Canoe

Traditional

Key of G · Chords: I IV V

Verse 1

       G       C   G
On the Tom Big Bee River so bright I was born
                          C        D
In a hut made of husks of the tall yellow corn
       G            C         G
It was there that I first met my Julah so true
                C         D       G
And I rowed her around in the gum tree canoe

Chorus

     G        C        G   D
Sing row away row o’er the waters so blue
     G         C              D      G
Like a feather we’ll float in my gum tree canoe
     G        C        G   D
Sing row away row o’er the waters so blue
     G         C              D      G
Like a feather we’ll float in my gum tree canoe

Verse 2

    G      C             G
All day in the fields of soft cotton I’d hoe
                      C        D
And think of my Julah and sing as I go
    G           C         G
I’d catch her a bird with a wing of true blue
                     C         D       G
And at night row her around in the gum tree canoe

Verse 3

     G          C            G
With my hand on my banjo and my toe on the oar
                               C       D
I would sing her a song to the river’s soft roar
          G            C             G
While the bright stars shone down on my Julah so true
                   C        D          G
And they danced in her eyes in the gum tree canoe

Verse 4

One day the old river took us so far away
                                C            D
That we couldn’t get back so we thought we’d just stay
   G            C         G
We spied a tall ship with a flag of true blue
                   C      D       G
And she took us in tow in the gum tree canoe