16 Shells from a Thirty-Ought-Six - Tom Waits from the album Swordfishtrombones (1983) Basic 12-bar blues style song.  For simplicity transpose down to Am and capo on the 4th fret.  The basic riff alternates between C#m7 and C#m listen to the recording for timing. [Intro] [Verse 1] I plugged 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six       And the Black Crow snuck through a hole in the sky    So I spent all my buttons on an old pack mule    Oh and I made me a ladder from a pawn shop marimba      And I leaned it up against a dandelion tree Leaned it up against a dandelion tree Leaned it up against a dandelion tree        [Verse 2] I’m gonna cook them feathers on a tire iron spit      And I filled me a satchel full of old pig corn      And I beat me a billy from an old French horn    Oh and I kicked that mule to the top of the tree Kicked that mule to the top of the tree And I blew me a hole ’bout the size of a kickdrum And I cut me a switch from a long branch elbow     [Chorus] I’m gonna whittle you into kindlin’ Black Crow sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six Whittle you into kindlin’ Black Crow sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six [Verse 3] Well I slept in the holler of a dry creek bed     And I tore out the bucket from a red Corvette Tore out the bucket from a red Corvette Lionel and Dave and the Butcher made three    Oh you got to meet me by the knuckles of the skinnybone tree    With the strings of a Washburn stretched like a clothes line Oh you know me and that mule scrambled right through the hole Me and that mule scrambled right through the hole   [Chorus] I’m gonna whittle you into kindlin’ Black Crow sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six Whittle you into kindlin’ Black Crow sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six [Verse 4] Now I hold him prisoner in a Washburn jail      That I strapped on the back of my old kick mule Strapped on the back of my old kick mule I bang on the strings just to drive him crazy    Oh I strum it loud to rattle his cage I strum it loud just to rattle his cage Strum it loud just to rattle his cage Strum it loud just to rattle his cage [Chorus] I’m gonna whittle you into kindlin’ Black Crow sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six Whittle you into kindlin’ Black Crow sixteen shells from a thirty-ought-six