[Intro]
Em
[Verse 1]
Em
Now old Abe Lincoln,
G C Em
A great big giant of a man was he
Yes, sir.
Em G Em
He was born in an old log cabin,
C A
And he worked for a living,
B
Splitting rails.
Em
Now Abe he knew right from wrong,
Am F B
For he was honest as the day is long,
Em
And these are the words he said.
[Chorus]
Em G Am
This country, with its institutions,
A G# B
Belongs to the people who inhabit it.
Em G Am
This country, with its Constitution,
A G
Belongs to us who live in it.
Em
Whenever they shall grow weary
G Em D
Of the existing government
They can exercise their constitutional right
B7
Of amending it,
Em D G C
Or their revolutionary right
F B Em
To dismember or overthrow it!
[Verse 2]
Em
Oh Abe once ran
G C Em
A little country store in Salemtown,
Illinois.
Em G Em
And a woman she paid him six pence
C A
More than she ought to have done,
A mistake.
Em
So off through the storm old Abe went,
Am F B
He paid that woman back every cemt,
Em
For Abe was an honest man.
Em G Em
Now Abe was close to the ground,
C Em
Oh he towered up six foot four
Bare feet.
Em G Em
And his heart was as big as a whole
C A
Country, with room for more
B
Like folks, too.
Em
He never forgot from whence he came,
Am F B
Though he landed in the White House and got great fame,
Em
For he was a working man.
[Chorus]
Em G Am
This country, with its institutions,
A G# B
Belongs to the people who inhabit it.
Em G Am
This country, with its Constitution,
A G
Belongs to us who live in it.
Em
Whenever they shall grow weary
G Em D
Of the existing government
They can exercise their constitutional right
B7
Of amending it,
Em D G C
Or their revolutionary right
F B Em
To dismember or overthrow it!
[Verse 3]
Em
Now old Abe's eyes
G C Em
Were set way back deep in his head,
A thinking man.
Em G Em
But you didn't need learning to understand
C A
What old Abe said
B
Listen to this.
Em
This republic will never be free
A F B
Till a black man's out of slavery
Em
And that made the Civil War.
Em
Now sometimes Abe
G C Em
He wavered and shook like a great tall tree,
That's true.
Em G C
For he wanted peace between the states
C A
In this country,
B
Like the Bible said.
Em
But Abe never crawled when the showdown came,
A F B
Like some people now who take his name,
B
He beat those slavemen down.
Em
Now old Abe Lincoln's
G C Em
Dead and gone these eighty years,
A great man.
Em G Em
But every year the party he made
C A
Says Lincoln's theirs,
No, sir.
E
For if old Abe were living right now,
A F B
To the man and at the bench, and the man at the plow,
Em
These are the words he'd say.
[Chorus]
Em G Am
This country, with its institutions,
A G# B
Belongs to the people who inhabit it.
Em G Am
This country, with its Constitution,
A G
Belongs to us who live in it.
Em
Whenever they shall grow weary
G Em D
Of the existing government
They can exercise their constitutional right
B7
Of amending it,
Em D G C
Or their revolutionary right
F B Em
To dismember or overthrow it!
Source: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/earl_robinson/old_abe_lincoln_chords_2366221