Graded Reading

The Long Black Veil

1. Ten years ago, on a cold dark night
2. There was someone killed 'neath the town hall light
3. There were few at the scene, but they all agreed
4. That the slayer who ran looked a lot like me
5. The judge said, "Son what is your alibi?
6. If you were somewhere else then you won't have to die"
7. I spoke not a word though it meant my life
8. For I had been in the arms of my best friend's wife
9. She walks these hills in a long black veil
10. She visits my grave when the night winds wail
11. Nobody knows, nobody sees
12. Nobody knows but me
13. The scaffold is high, and eternity nears
14. She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear
15. But sometimes at night when the cold wind mourns
16. In a long black veil she cries over my bones
17. She walks these hills in a long black veil
18. She visits my grave when the night winds wail
19. Nobody knows, nobody sees
20. Nobody knows but me, nobody knows but me, nobody knows but me.
21. Glossary

1. alibi - to be seen in another location when a crime took place
2. mourns - to feel sad about a death. Here combines with word moan - like wail the typical sound
3. the wind makes.
4. ‘neath - underneath
5. scaffold - wooden structure built to carry out hanging

Song Lyric with chords * Johnny Cash version * Roseanne Cash version

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