THREE WHEELS ON MY WAGON - chords and comments

At the bottom you'll find a link to the complete lyrics.

The popular music composer Burt Bacharach is no longer a living legend; he died 8th of February 2023 at the age of 94, and I'm sorry. No more inventive works coming up with his signature: unusual rythm patterns and unusual combinations of chords and harmonies, in order to light up everybody's life. He composed hundreds of songs for several purposes, and I've enjoyed all that I've heard. But I've never played any of them myself; only whispered and hummed for myself. Some years ago I discoved by accident that his first registered composition (ASCAP) in fact was a western tune [!] which has been stuck in my brain for almost fifty years.

I came upon the album "The New Christy Minstrels Sing and Play Cowboys and Indians" 10 years after it's release (1965). The front cover was remarkable silly, and I thought that this must be some holy crap. It wasn't: it's one of the best albums I've ever had. That folk singer group was simply fabulous ... and this song was outstanding, by it's parodic attitude and bright sound (lead vocal by Barry McQuire; fronting the group at that time).

Who was first to catch the idea of writing this? Probably not Bacharach; he was a dedicated composer. Bob Hilliard (1918-1971, nee Hilliard Goldsmith), a professional lyricist, tapped down the words. Dick van Dyke was the first one to record it, in 1961(Jamie Records), as a single, most probably as a stunt from his TV series popular around 1960. I've never heard it, and I never will.

I've seen a few "tabs" on this one around, and I turn them down. They simplify it to 4 chords something, misplace them, and then it loses the touch of Bacharach and reduces it to three minutes of nonsense. Please do more like this:

A            E7     F#m ... A7
three wheels on my wagon
    Bm        Bm/A      E ... E7
and I'm still rolling along
      A   F#m       D     E
the cherokees are chasing me
D        E  D       E7
arrows fly right on by
         A    Cm#  D     A  ...A7
but I'm singing a happy song:
                D              A
I'm singing a higgity haggity hoggety high
E    E7        A         A7
pioneers they never say die
   D                          A      F#m
a mile up the road there's a hidden cave
            Bm           C#m    E    E7        A
and we can watch those cherokees go galloping by