Johnny Cash - Tiger Whitehead: Guitar Chords

Learn to play "Tiger Whitehead" on your guitar with our chord guide. This page provides everything you need to perform this song on the guitar, including lyrics integrated with chords, chord diagrams, and a key transposer to match your vocal range.

For easier playing, use our Simplify Chords feature to remove difficult chords like barre.

Chorus:
 D                                  A
Wild blackberries bloomin' in the thickets on the mountain,
D                                 A
Sheep shire and water cress are growin' round the fountain,
         D                                  A           F#m
Where a big black bear is drinkin' lappin' water like a dog,
  B                             E             E7
Tiger Whitehead's in the bed, sleepin' like a log.
       D                          A              D
But tomorrow he'll see bear tracks seven inches wide,
        A                 E              A
And by sundown he'll be bringin' in the hide.

A             D              A                 D
Pretty Sally Garland comin' down the mountain side,
       A                  E              A            E
Where Tiger Whitehead's tryin' to nap a mill, at the mill,
     A              D                A                   D
She sits down on a bearskin and she says, “You'll be my man,
           A                E               A
I'll have me the best bear hunter in these hills.”

A wild child was Tiger Whitehead and they say he killed
Ninety-nine bears before he went to rest, went to rest
Once he left two bear cubs orphaned
but he brought them right on home
And Sally nursed the two bear cubs upon her breast

Chorus

Tiger now is eighty-five and he lay upon his bed
And the bears he killed now numbered ninety-nine, ninety-nine
Some fellers trapped the bears 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 hills of eastern Tennessee
And when the lightning flashes there's
the strange thing that the people say they see
An old grey-headed ghost running through the mountains there
It's Tiger Whitehead after his one hundredth bear

Chorus


You can simplify chords by removing barre

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Simplify chords by removing barre

Guitar Chord Diagrams

A

Guitar chord A

D

Guitar chord D

E

Guitar chord E

E7

Guitar chord E7

F#m

Guitar chord F#m

B

Guitar chord B

Here you can see detailed diagrams for each guitar chord used in the song. Utilize our key transposer to adjust the chords to a key that better fits your singing range. Simply select the desired key, and the chords throughout this page will update automatically, ensuring you can play and sing comfortably.

If you are also interested in learning how to play "Tiger Whitehead" on the ukulele, check out the chords on our sister site: Ukulele Chords for "Tiger Whitehead" by Johnny Cash.

Johnny Cash Song List