This isn't a Nickel Creek song, but the lyrics given are not the original lyrics,
and are in fact the words Nickel Creek sang (at least at the Kennedy Performing Arts
Center.) Also, though many people refer to this song as "Crooked Jack", it is a
combination of a song called "Crooked Jack" and another song called "Blacksmith."
Enjoy!
Intro: Fm Eb Cm Bbsus2 Ab Gm (4x)
Ab Cm
A blacksmith courted me
Fm Bbsus2
Nine months and better
C# Cm
He fairly won my heart
Eb Fm Eb
He wrote me a letter
Ab Bbsus2
With his hammer in his hand
Fm Gm C7
He looked quite clever
Ab Cm Eb D
And if I was with my love
C# Eb Fm Eb Cm Bbsus2 Ab Gm
I would live for-ev-er
(Pre-Chorus)
Fm
Come Irishmen, both young and stern
Eb
With adventure in your soul
Fm
There are better ways to spend your days
Eb Fm
Than working down a hole
Ab Cm
I was tall and true, all of 6 foot 2
C# Gm
But they broke me across the back
C# Eb
By a name I'm known but it's not my own
Fm Eb Bbsus2
They call me Crooked Jack
But where's my love gone
With his cheeks like roses
And his good black Billycock on
Decked around with primroses
I fear the blazing sun
Will shine and burn his beauty
And if I was with my love
I would do my duty
(Pre-Chorus)
The ganger's blue-eyed pet was I
Big Jack could do no wrong
And the reason simply was because
I could work for hours and long
(Chorus)
(solos) Fm Eb C# Eb (4x)
Fm Eb
Strange news is come to town
C# Eb Fm
Strange news is carried
Fm Eb
Strange news is come to town
C# Eb Fm
That my love is married
Oh I wish them both much joy
Though they can't hear me
And may God reward them well
For the slighting of me
(Pre-Chorus)
And I've seen old men before their time
Their faces drawn and gray
But I never thought so soon would be mine
Be lined in the self same way
(Bridge)
Ab Cm
Do you remember when
Fm Bb7
You lay beside me
C# Cm
And you said you'd marry me
C7 Fm Fm7
And not deny me
Ab Fm
If I said I'd marry you
(Fm)(Eb) C# Eb (C#)
It was only for to try you
Fm Eb Cm
So bring your witness love
C# Eb Fm
And I'll not deny you
(vocalized chord)
(Chorus)
(This riff is a work in progress, and I'll put the rest up once I figure it all
out.)
Fm Eb Cm B C#m D Cm Bbsus2 /G /A Bbsus2 Eb D Cm Bbsus2
(overlapping) (Follow the normal chord progression for 1 and you should be fine.)
1: They say that honest toil is good
For the spirit and the soul
But believe me boys it's for sweat and blood
That they want you down a hole
I was tall and true, all of 6 foot 2
But they broke me across the back
By a name I'm known but it's not my own
They call me Crooked Jack
2: No witness have I none
Save God Almighty
And may he reward you well
For the slighting of me
Her lips grew pale and wan
It made a poor heart tremble
To think she loved a one
And he proved decietful
(Outro, which I still don't know, but for now I'd use the solo)