F
Hey uncle louie, I wrote you a song
Bb
I'm glad you got your heart out of pawn
F
I'm glad you got your king out of check
Bb
At least that's how things stood when I saw you last

[Verse 2]
F
It was New Orleans before the flood
Bb
You had just met a girl! you were falling in love!
F
She lived on the levee and knew the blues
Bb
And played harmonica better than you

F

[Chorus]
Bb
In a neighborhood bar
F
In the middle of summer
Dm
Shoulder-to-shoulder
F                        Bb
Setting like sister and brother
F                       Dm
All of the sorrows you told each other
Bb          C              F
Rose like smoke from the room

[Verse 3]
F
The heat and the bourbon was in your head
Bb
You were talking in tongues! you were back from the dead!
F
And the girl and the city were one and the same
Bb
And last call never came

[Bridge]
Bb                 C   Dm   F           C
And I can see you swimming out into the street
F              C     F          Dm          Bb
I can hear you singing, "when I die, don't cry for me"

[Verse 4]
F
Hey uncle louie, the city is spinning
Bb
She sure is pretty. you sure are grinning
F
She's leading you home from the heat of the bar
Bb
To lie on the levee and look at the stars

F

[Chorus]
Bb
You can hold her hand
F
You can kiss her face
Dm
Go slow if you can
F                              Bb
Cause the world is a very sad place
F                   Dm
And when she leaves she'll leave no trace
         Bb         C        F
And the world will still be there

[Verse 6]
F
The sky is colored in purple and yellow
Bb
You lie on the levee with stones for pillows
F
And you and the girl and the city make love
Bb
With the harlequin sky up above