E|-----------------------------------------------|
B|-----------------------------------------------|
G|--------0-----------0-2--------0----------0-2--|
D|---0--2--------0--2-------0--2-------0--2------|
A|-----------------------------------------------|
E|-----------------------------------------------|

[Verse]

     A                               D
When I get off of this mountain, you know where I want to go?
A                    D                        E
   Straight down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.
   A                                D
To Lake Charles, Louisianna, little Bessie, a girl who I once knew.
A                     D                     E
  She told me just to come on by if there's anything that she could do.


[Refrain]

A
Up on Cripple Creek, she sends me.
D
If I spring a leak, she mends me.
E
I don't have to speak, she defends me.
  F#m                   G
A drunkard's dream if I ever did see one.


[Verse]
A                                   D
Good luck had just stung me, to the race track I did go.
A            D                      E
  She bet on one horse to win and I bet on another to show.
    A                        D
The odds were in my favor, I had them five to one.
A             D                          E
  That nag to win came around the track, sure enough she had won.


[Refrain]

A
Up on Cripple Creek, she sends me.
D
If I spring a leak, she mends me.
E
I don't have to speak, she defends me.
  F#m                   G
A drunkard's dream if I ever did see one.


[Verse]
  A                                D
I took up all of my winnings and I gave little Bessie half.
A                     D                   E
   She tore it up and threw it in my face just for a laugh.
    A                                         D
And there's one thing in the whole wide world I sure would like to see.
A                         D                     E
  that's when that little love of mine dips her doughnut in my tea.


[Refrain]

A
Up on Cripple Creek, she sends me.
D
If I spring a leak, she mends me.
E
I don't have to speak, she defends me.
  F#m                   G
A drunkard's dream if I ever did see one.


[Verse]
A                                                D
Me and my mate we were back at the shack, we had Spike Jones on the box.
A                             D                   E
  She says, "I can't take the way he sings, but I love to hear him talk."
    A                                      D
Now that just gave my heart a throb to the bottom of my feet.
A                 D                     E
 And I swore as I took another pull, my Bessie can't be beat.


[Refrain]

A
Up on Cripple Creek, she sends me.
D
If I spring a leak, she mends me.
E
I don't have to speak, she defends me.
  F#m                   G
A drunkard's dream if I ever did see one.


[Yodel over]

|A    |D    |A    |D    |

|A    |D    |A    |D    |

[Verse]
          A                              D
There's a flood out in California and up north it's freezing cold.
A                 D              E
  And this living on the road is getting pretty old.
     A                                        D
So I guess I'll call up my big mama, tell her I'll be rolling in.
        A                    D
But you know, deep down, I'm kind of tempted
   E
To go and see my Bessie again.


[Refrain]

A
Up on Cripple Creek, she sends me.
D
If I spring a leak, she mends me.
E
I don't have to speak, she defends me.
  F#m                   G
A drunkard's dream if I ever did see one.


[Yodel over]

|A    |D    |A    |D    |