IF I'D BEEN A LUTHERAN 110420 - DOG AT THE GATE

James Michael Taylor

About “If I’d Been A Lutheran *”
Dodie told me not to use her real name.

C Csus C Csus
C Csus C
If I had been a Lutheran I might have married
Csus
Dodie Harris
C Csus C
Learned hillside irrigation and I’d have learned
G
to weld
Am Am/G
And all the city fathers would have slapped me
Am/F#
on the shoulder and all the city mothers
G C G
wished me well.

But I am not a Lutheran. I didn’t marry Dodie Harris
I worked for her father, spraying weeds with diesel fuel
And all that summer, there among the orange trees
With Dodie on my mind, in that house down the hill

Am Am/G Am/F#
When you’re thirteen in a little town like
Am/F
Woodlake
Am Am/G Am/F#
And everybody knows that you’re the prettiest
Am/G
girl in town
F C E Am
It must affect you. Your parents must protect you
F G C
When boys like Donny Brewer come around

Sometimes it makes me angry when I remember Dodie Harris
I know it might sound crazy, it was so long ago.
But I’ve seen pictures of her with Donnie
And it makes me wonder, “Where did Dodie go.”

© 2018 Royal T Music