Sweet Baby James
James Taylor

James Taylor
Sweet Baby James
1970

This song is a really easy song from the Sweet Baby James album.
It's basically just pick the bass note and scratch the top strings,
kind of like S&G's America.  So enjoy it, have fun, and keep playin'!

Chords

Basically, all you do with these chords is pick the bass note (with your thumb),
then strum the high strings to fill the measure.  It should work for most parts.
Just notice how he does the intro and that's basically the whole song.

Here's the intro:

                                                     There
   G       G/F#  Em7           A7sus4
   +   +   +     +   +   +     +   +   +     +   +   +
e:-------3---3-|-----3---3-3-|-----3-3-3-3-|-----3---3---|
B:-------3---3-|-----3---3-3-|-----3-3-3-3-|-----3---3---|
G:-------0---0-|-----0---0-0-|-----0-0-0-0-|-----0---0---|
D:-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
A:-------------|-------------|-0-----------|-0-----------|
E:-3-------2---|-0-----------|-------------|-------------|


      D             A      G            F#m
There is a young cowboy he lives on the range
    Bm            G              D       F#m
His horse and his cattle are his only companions
   Bm           G             D             F#m
He works in the saddle and he sleeps in the canyons
G           D          A           Em7
Waiting for summer his pastures to change


Asus2    A


    G                    A7sus4      D
And as the moon rises he sits by his fire
Bm             G         D          A   
Thinking about women and glasses of beer
    G                       A7sus4   D
And closing his eyes as the dogies retire
   Bm          G             D
He sings out a song which is soft but it's clear
   Bm                     E7
As if maybe someone could hear


A7sus4


D             G         A7sus4   D
Goodnight you moonlight ladies
Bm         G          D
Rock-a-bye sweet baby James
Bm              G             D
Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose
          Bm        E7         A7sus4
Won't you let me go down in my dreams
    G          A          D
And rock-a-bye sweet baby James

   James
   D
   +   +   +     +   +   +
e:-------0-----|-0h2---------|
B:-------3-----|-3-----------|
G:-------2-----|-2-----------|
D:-0---------0-|-------------|
A:-------------|-------------|
E:-------------|-------------|

Now the first of December was covered with snow
So was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston
Though the Berkshires seem dreamlike on account of that frosting
With ten miles behind me and ten thousand more to go


There's a song that they sing when they take to the highway
A song that they sing when they take to the sea
A song that they sing of their home in the sky
Maybe you can believe it if it helps you to sleep
But singing works just fine for me


So goodnight you moonlight ladies
Rock-a-bye sweet baby James
Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose
Won't you let me go down in my dreams
And rock-a-bye sweet baby James
CHORDS:

G/F#	2x0033
Em7	022033
A7sus4	x02033
E7	022130

For the other chords, check my key to chords.

To learn why these chords are named this way, check out Dansm's Guitar Chord Theory.