The Handsome Family
The Bottomless Hole Chords
The Bottomless Hole by The Handsome Family
Tabbed by MericanSoil
Standard Tuning
One could play this song by simply playing chords, but the walking bass line used in the recording
really takes the song to the next level. In this transcription, I've attempted to SIMULATE that
bass line by adding an additional chord between the primary chords – please note that I've put this
chord in parentheses for those who don't wish to play it. For those who do, the emphasis should be on the
low B note on the A string. To achieve the EXACT sound heard in the recording would require a full
tablature transcription of the song…which could be done relatively easily by using the below chords
as a guideline. Regardless, this walk-down/walk-up chord is noted below as “A2.”
A2 = Am add9 = 0-1-0-0-2-0 (e-B-G-D-A-E)
Am (A2) C G Am
My name I don’t remember though I hail from Ohio
Am (A2) C F C ( A2)
I had a wife and children, good tires on my car
F C (A2) Am
What took me from my home and put me in the earth
F E Am
Was the mouth of the deep dark hole I found behind my barn
Am (A2) C G Am
We’d been filling it with garbage as long as you could count
Am (A2) C F C ( A2)
Kitchen scraps and dead cows, tractors broken down
F C (A2) Am
But never did I hear one thing hit the ground
F E Am
And slowly I came to fear, that this was a bottomless hole
Am (A2) C G Am
I went out behind the barn and stared down in that hole
Am (A2) C F C ( A2)
Late into the evening, my mind would not let go
F C (A2) Am
So I got out my ropes and a rusty claw foot tub
F E Am
And I rigged myself a chariot to ride down in that hole
Am (A2) C G Am
My wife she did help me, she fed me down the ropes
Am (A2) C F C ( A2)
And then I sank away from the surface of this world
F C (A2) Am
When the last rope pulled tight, I had not reached the end
F E Am
And in anger I swung there down in that dark abyss
Am (A2) C G Am
So I got out my knife, I told my wife goodbye
Am (A2) C F C ( A2)
I cut loose from the ropes and fell on down that hole
F C (A2) Am
And still I am there falling down in this evil pit
F E Am
But until I hit the bottom I won’t believe it’s bottomless
Outro: Am F E Am