C                F
How did mama's pride and joy
       C                F
Go from such a precious baby
       G
To the devil's poster boy


          C                  F
I'm gonna slick my hair like Elvis
        C                F
Roll my cuffs like Jerry Lee
       C                  F
If the backbeat's born in hell
                G
Then that's the place I want to be


CHORUS:
              F         C
I'm gonna be a midnight rider
      F              C
Gonna burn my candle down
F              C
Following that driving beat
       Am           F     C  F  C  F
To the dark side of town


         C                F
From the barrooms of Deep Elam
     C                F
To a crash-pad on the Bay
   C                  F
He spiralled slow and steady down 
  G
A lonely blue highway

 
          C                  F
I'm gonna chase my beer with whiskey
        C            F
Stick a needle in my skin
          C             F
I'm gonna celebrate the mystery
       G
Of the hole I've fallen in


CHORUS:
            F         C
'Cause I'm a midnight rider
      F              C
Gonna burn my candle down
F              C
Following that driving beat
       Am           F     C  F  C  F
To the dark side of town


   C                F
He loved that funky music
   C                  F
He knew the back road scenes
      C            F
Every barbeque and blues band
        G
Between here and New Orleans


C               F
He put down the bottle
  C            F
October Eighty-nine
C               F
Eased up on the throttle
G
Bought him a little time


CHORUS:
            F         C           
But he was a midnight rider
   F                  C
He burned that candle down
F                   C
Hangin' out on easy-does-it street
       Am           F     C  F  C  F
On the dark side of town


C              F
Big Al settled down along
    C              F
The banks of Onion Creek
       C            F
With a pickup and a hound dog
     G
And a little lucky streak


   C                   F
He nursed that fragile frame
            C              F
Through the hurricanes and drought
         C                F
It was a summer wind that came in
    G
And blew the candle out


CHORUS:
               F         C
'Cause he was a midnight rider
   F                  C
He burned that candle down
F              C
Following that driving beat
       Am           F    
To the dark side of town


CHORUS:
                 C
Oh, you midnight rider
  F                  C
I know you're still around
F              C
Hangin' out on easy street
       Am           F     C  F  C  F
On the dark side of town