C                                 G
Wild blackberries bloomin' in the thickets on the mountain,
C                                 G
Sheep shire and water cress are growin' round the fountain,
         C                                   G          Em
Where a big black bear is drinkin' lappin' water like a dog,
  A                              D             D7
Tiger Whitehead's in the bed, sleepin' like a log.
     C                               G          C
But tomorrow he'll see bear tracks seven inches wide,
          G               D              G
And by sundown he'll be bringin' in the hide.
G              C              G                C
Pretty Sally Garland comin' down the mountain side,
     G                 D               G            D
Where Tiger Whitehead's tryin' to nap a mill, at the mill,
     G                C              G                   C
She sits down on a bearskin and she says, “You'll be my man,
          G                  D              G
I'll have me the best bear hunter in these hills.”
    G              C              G                C
A wild child was Tiger Whitehead and they say he killed
      G          D                 G             D
Ninety-nine bears before he went to rest, went to rest,
         G                     C             G                    C
Once he left two bear cubs orphaned but he brought 'em right on home,
           G                   D              G      G7
And Sally nursed the two bear cubs upon her breast.


[Chorus]

  G            C                 G           C
Tiger now is eighty-five and he lay upon his bed,
          G                   D              G            D
And the bears he killed now numbered ninety-nine, ninety-nine.
       G                  C                G                  C
Some fellers trapped the bear, but Tiger said, “Just let him go,
   G                 D                G
If he ain't running wild he won't be mine.”

            Em
But at the night when the wind howls
C                              G
Cross the hills of eastern Tennessee,
     Em
And when the lightnin' flashes,
                                     A              D
There's the strange thing that the people say they see :
    C                               G                C
An old grey headed ghost runnin' through mountains there,
              G             D                 G     G7
It's Tiger Whitehead after his one hundredth bear.
  C                                 G
Wild blackberries bloomin' in the thickets on the mountain,
C                                 G
Sheep shire and water cress are growin' round the fountain,
         C                                   G           Em
Where a big black bear is drinkin', lappin' water like a dog,
  A                             D              D7
Tiger Whitehead's in the bed, sleepin' like a log.
      C                             G            C
But tomorrow he'll see bear tracks seven inches wide,
          G               D              G
And by sundown he'll be bringin' in the hide.