Look Who it Was Random video

12-string Guitar: The High Sheriff of Hazard (Tom Paxton cover) (Including lyrics and chords)

1,641 views · Published 12 June 2009 · 2:36 · Indexed 4 November 2026

Channel: threelegsoman · 2009 · Music

Watch on YouTube

In certain counties in some of the states in the USA, the chief law enforcement officer, the sheriff, is an elected official. In this song, the sheriff in question is not an impartial person, but as a mine-owner himself bends the law to suit him and his fellow mine-owners regardless of the human rights of the workers. Anyone organizing a union, or engineering a strike was considered to be a communist (Russian or Red) and therefore anti-American in the eyes of the wealthy mine-owners. This was the sort of injustice that Tom and other 'protest singers' fought against by writing and singing such songs as this.

The High Sheriff Of Hazard
Tom Paxton
No capo

Am                                                          C                      Am               
Now the High Sheriff of Hazard is a hard working man.
     C                               G                                                 
To be a fine Sheriff is his only plan.
                Am                                       C                        Am                   
With his hands in our pockets and takes what he can,
       C                     E7             Am                        
For he's the High Sheriff of Hazard.       
Am                                                     
He looked through my pockets, he's searched them with care,
       C                         G                                                                   
But nary a nickel or penny was there.
        Am                                      C                      Am              
So I got thirty days and some bumps in my hair.
        C                        E7              Am                        
God bless the High Sheriff of Hazard.

He caught me one evening and here's what he said:
"You look like a Russian, you look like a Red,
And if you are fond of your skin and your head,
Beware the high sheriff of Hazard."
I thanked him politely, I thanked him for all,
And five minutes later, I made a phone call
To have a strike meeting at our union hall,
And damn the high sheriff of Hazard.

Now, men there are plenty who sweat out their lives
To scratch out a living for children and wives.
They sweat for their pennies while the mine owner thrives
With the blessings of the high sheriff of Hazard.
When union men strike and the troubles come on,
The high sheriff's word is the mine owner's bond,
He's a mine owner, too, you know which side he's on,
He's the wealthy high sheriff of Hazard.

It seems to be so since this old world began
That some folks are willing to scheme and to plan,
To gouge out a fortune from the poor working man,
For example, the high sheriff of Hazard.
But the answer is simple, the answer is clear,
Let's all get together with nothing to fear
And throw the old bastard right out on his ear,
Farewell to the high sheriff of Hazard.

More from this channel