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johnny cash - tiger whitehead [personal file version] lyrics

[intro]
the best ideas for songwriting are the true stories that happened, especially, to people. when you get into the human spirit, you get some good ideas sometimes. recently, i played a show up at jonesborough, tennessee. they’re restoring the old town of jonesborough which is tennessee’s oldest city and my friend dr. nat winston took me up on the mountains right out of johnson city the day of the show and he showed me the countryside where he grew up. went up grandfather mountain, up to his little ol’ cabin up there. and as we went through whitehead, he told me the tale of a bear hunter named tiger whitehead that used to live in that country. tiger was born in 1819 and died in 1905 and on his tombstone, on tiger whitehead’s tombstone, it says:

“james t.,” + and nat said that’s for tiger + “james t. whitehead, born 1819, died 1905, noted bear hunter. in his life, he k!lled 99 bears. we hope he is at rest.”

well, right beside him, is a nice white tombstone. that’s his wife buried there. it’s sally garland whitehead. now, sally lived to be 97. and it says:

“sally garland whitehead. not only a mother to humankind, but to animal+kind as well, for in her life, she nursed two bear cubs and one fawn upon her own breast. we hope she is now at rest.”

so nat told me the story and showed me the old cemetery where tiger and sally are buried and i wrote this song

[chorus]
wild blackberries blooming in the thickets on the mountain
sheepshire and watercress are growing ’round the fountain
where a big black bear is drinking, lapping water like a dog
tiger whitehead’s in the bed, sleeping like a log
tomorrow, he’ll see bear tracks seven inches wide
and by sundown, he’ll be bringing in the hide

[verse 1]
pretty sally garland coming down the mountainside
where tiger whitehead’s grinding at the mill, at the mill
she sits down on a bearskin and she says, “you’ll be my man
i’ll have me the best bear hunter in these hills”
a wild child was tiger whitehead and they say he k!lled
99 bears before he went to rest, went to rest
once he left two bear cubs orphaned but he brought ’em right on home
and sally nursed the two bear cubs upon her breast
[verse 2]
tiger now was 85 and he laid upon his bed
and the bears he k!lled now numbered 99, 99
some fellers trapped a bear but tiger said, “just let him go
if he ain’t running wild, he won’t be mine”
but at night, when the wind howls ‘cross the eastern hills of tennessee
and when the lightning flashes, there’s a strange thing that people say they see
an old grey+headed ghost running through the mountains there
it’s tiger whitehead after his one+hundredth bear

- johnny cash lyrics

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