AmGAm
Come gather round me children, a story I will tell
AmGAm
I've been around since Jesus met the woman at the well
CAmCAm
I've walked these roads ten thousand years, I'm a ragtime millionaire
AmGAm
I'm the rake and the ramblin saint. I am the man from God knows where
AmGAm
Oh, they hung me in Downpatrick, up near St.Patrick's tomb
AmGAm
But my ghost rose up in the peat fire smoke toward the rising of the moon
CAmCAm
Now as I drift through your villages, all the maidens stop and stare
AmGAm
"There goes old Tom, the vagabond, he's the man from God knows where"
CAmCG
So it's rise up all you ancestors, and dance upon your graves
CAmCAm
I've come to hear your voices, now, so maybe I'll be saved
AmGAm
Cursed are we who forget the past, but pray and don't despair
AmGAm
My song might haunt your dreams tonight, I'm the man from God knows where
AmGAm
I've slept beneath your bridges, near your oil refineries
AmGAm
I've gambled on your river boats, Shenandoah; Kanakee
CAmCAm
I'm the homeless lad, I'm an orphan child, leaves of grass sewn through my hair
AmGAm
Yeah, me and old Walt Whitman, we're the men from God knows where
AmGAm
I've rode the rods on steam trains with a banjo on my knee
AmGAm
While the voice of Stephen Foster, whisperd songs to me
CAmCAm
Of the storefront church and the chain gang choir; Black sorrow filled the air
AmGAm
Then Stephen died on a doss house floor, like a man from God knows where
AmGAm
I've heard the sound of Indian drums I've heard the bugles blow
AmGAm
Before they re'wrote history, into a Wild West Show
CAmCAm
My kin sailed toward America, to steal their Indian ground
AmGAm
They passed Bill Cody's circus ships, European bound
AmGAm
So lock up all your daughters, your whiskey and your gold
AmGAm
I have come to claim my bounty, for the lies that I've been told
CAmCAm
And as I look out on this crowd tonight, I see most of you don't care
AmGAm
Come lift your glass, reveal your past, to the man from God knows where