Ginseng Sullivan
intermediate
Ginseng Sullivan
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Chord Chart
Chorus x2
EbEb
EbEb
AbAb
AbAb
AbAb
EbEb
EbEb
AbAb
AbAb
DbDb
EbEb
FmFm
BbBb
EbEb
AbAb
EbEb
EbEb
Eb
Ab
Bb
Eb
EbEb
EbEb
Verse x2
EbEb
EbEb
EbEb
AbAb
AbAb
EbEb
AbAb
CmCm
BbBb
EbEb
EbEb
Chords used:
Ab
Bb
Cm
Db
Eb
Fm
Lyrics
About three miles from the Battele yard
From the reverse curve on down
Not far south of the town depot
Sullivan's shack was found
Back on the higher ground.
You could see him every day
Just walking down the line
With his old brown sack across his back
And his long hair down behind
Speaking his worried mind.
It's a long way from the delta to the North Georgia hills
A tote sack full of ginseng won't pay my travelling bills
I'm too old to ride the rails Or thumb the road alone
So I guess I'll never make it back to home
My muddy water Mississippi Delta home.
The winters here they get too cold
The damp it makes me ill
Can't dig no roots on the mountain side
With the ground froze hard and still
Gotta stay at the foot of the hill.
But next summer, if things turn right
The companies will pay high
I'll make enough money to pay my bills
And bid these mountains goodbye
Then he said with a sighDemo Videos
About This Song
Ginseng Sullivan is a Norman Blake composition popularized by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman on their influential 1993 album. The song tells the story of a mountain man collecting ginseng, fitting squarely in the old-time storytelling tradition that bluegrass inherited from Appalachian folk music.