You Never Even Called Me By My Name
by David Allan Coe
from the album Once Upon A Rhyme (1975)
written by Steve Goodman & John Prine

***Like many country songs, this song sounds great
when you pluck a root note, generally on the
lowest 3 strings, before strumming the chord to
create a walking bass line. For example, alternate
between plucking the A string and low E string on 
the 1st and 3rd beats of each bar, or vice versa
as necessary.

For this song, you can play every C as a C/G (332010),
which is just a regular C chord plus a G root, and
pluck the C on beat 1 and the G on beat 3. Once
you've got that down, play around to create your own
bass line.***

(N.C.)      C                G               C
Well it was all that I could do to keep from cryin'
    F                  G            C
Sometimes it seemed so useless to remain
    F                 G            C     Am
But you don't have to call me darlin', darlin'
    C          G               C
You never even called me by my name

C                 G              C
You don't have to call me Waylon Jennings
    C                 G          C
And you don't have to call me Charley Pride
    F                 G             C          Am
And you don't have to call me Merle Haggard anymore
D7                                  G     
  Even though you're on my fightin' side

         F              G                C
And I'll hang around as long as you will let me 
      F         G                  C
and I never minded standing in the rain
    F                 G             C     Am
But you don't have to call me darlin', darlin' 
    C          G               C    
You never even called me by my name

          C               G                 C
Well I've heard my name a few times in your phonebook (Hello? Hello?)
         C          G                C
And I've seen it on signs where I've played
        F           G             C            Am
But the only time I know I'll hear David Allan Coe
D7                                     G
  Is when Jesus has his final judgment day

        F              G                C
So I'll hang around as long as you will let me 
      F         G                  C
and I never minded standing in the rain
    F                 G             C     Am
But you don't have to call me darlin', darlin' 
    C          G               C
You never even called me by my name

(Spoken)
Well a good friend of mine named Steve Goodman wrote that song.
And he told me it was the perfect country and western song.
Well I wrote him back a letter and told him:
It was not the perfect country and western song,
Because he hadn't said anything at all about mama,
Or trains, or trucks, or prison, or gettin' drunk!
Well, he sat down and wrote another verse to this song,
and he sent it to me. After reading it, I realized
That my friend had written the perfect country and western song.
And I felt obliged to include it on this album.
The last verse goes like this here:

           C                G              C
Well I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison
      C                G         C
And I went to pick her up in the rain
      F            G                        C      Am
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
D7                                    G
  She got runned over by a damned old train

         F              G                C
And I'll hang around as long as you will let me 
      F         G                  C
and I never minded standing in the rain
    F                 G             C     Am
But you don't have to call me darlin', darlin' 
    C          G        
You never even called me
       C                    Am     
Well I wonder why you don't call me, 
    C              G             C     (G C)       
Why don't you ever call me by my name?


---{CCR 2014}---