A                E               A                E
Sam Smith was an old man, by the time I first saw him.
A                E                A            B
Wild eyes and a wicked beard, hanging from his chin.
A                      E           A       E
I thought I’d seen the devil, as a boy in ‘99.
A                       E            A            E
My daddy called him the hermit, from on the borderline.

[Chorus]
                A                     E              A                E
He said They’re never gonna take him back again, and march him off to war.
      A                   E              A                   B
Where grey-headed men in long wool coats assign their bloody chores.
A                  E                A                  E
They can look, but they won’t find, old Sam Smith this time.
     A                  E            A          E
He’s somewhere North of Canaan Hill along borderline.

[Verse 2]
A                      E           A                E
They say Old Sam was a veteran, he rode in the cavalry,
A                E             A         B
Came home on a limping leg sometime in ‘63.
A                  E               A                E
Bought a saw and a scattergun at Scagway's general store.
               A             E                   A          E
He said, “I’m taking to the woods so they won’t find me anymore.”

[Chorus]
            A                     E              A                E
No, they’re never gonna take me back again, and march me off to war.
      A                   E              A                   B
Where grey-headed men in long wool coats assign their bloody chores.
A                  E                A                  E
They can look, but they won't find, old Sam Smith this time.
     A                   E               A           E
He’s somewhere north of Canaan Hill out on the borderline.

[Verse 3]
     A                  E                 A                E
Now every month on the twenty-fifth, he’d come back to the store.
       A               E                    A                B
With a broken down old blue tick that would wait outside the door.
         A                               E                 A               E
and He'd yell “Where’s my check from the government, and I want a block of cheese.”
          A            E               A              E
Then he'd fold it in a handkerchief he kept up in his sleeve.

[Chorus]
            A                     E              A                E
No, they’re never gonna take me back again, and march me off to war.
      A                   E              A                   B
Where grey-headed men in long wool coats assign their bloody chores.
A                  E                     A                 E
They can look, they're never gonna find, old Sam Smith this time.
     A                  E            A          E
He’s somewhere north of Canaan Hill along the borderline.