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#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
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Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2005 13:01:08 -0700 (PDT)
From: bruno haynie <brunohaynie@yahoo.com>
Subject: Devils Right Hand by Steve Earle

Here is this song the way I recall it. I have been
playing it for ten years since I last heard it by
anyone else so some details may have mutated but It
should be close enough:

The Devils Right Hand

By Steve Earle


Key: E
[opening riff]

[E] About the time my daddy left to fight the big war
I saw my first pistol in the [B]general store
The general store when I was thirteen
I thought it was the finest thing I [E]ever had seen

I asked if I could have one someday when I grew up
Momma dropped a dozen eggs. She [B]really blew up
She really blew up, she didn?t understand
Momma said the pistol was the [E]devils right hand

[chorus]
the [A]devils right hand, the [E]devils [A]right
[E]hand
[B]momma said the pistol was the [E]devils right hand

[repeat opening riff]
My very first pistol was a cap and ball colt
Shoots like lightning but it [B]loads a might slow
Loads a might slow and I soon found out
It?ll get you into trouble but it [E]cant get you out

So then I went and got myself a colt 45
Called a peacemaker but I [B]never knew why
I never knew why, I didn?t understand
Momma said the pistol was the [E]devils right hand

[chorus]
[key change up to F#]
[opening riff in F#}

[F#]I got into a card game in a Company town
Cought a miner cheating so I [C#]shot the dog down
I shot the dog down, watched a man fall
He never touched his holster never [F#]had a chance to
draw

The trial was in the morning so they drug me out of
bed
Asked me how I pleaded not [C#]guilty I said
Not guilty I said, you got the wrong man
Nothing touched the trigger but the [F#]devils right
hand

[chorus ]

the [B]devils right hand, the [F#]devils [B]right
[F#]hand
[C#]momma said the pistol was the [F#]devils right
hand


(the opening riff is doable as a Emajor chord with
your pinky picking out the melody: A  G#  F#  E  F#  E
above it. Just slide the whole thing up to an F# bar
chord for the key change ?you will have to play an F#7
to free up you pinky for the riff but it sounds ok)