C                    G7       C
The Iowa weather was thirteen below

      F                        C
I had come to Des Moines for a radio show

  F                           C          Am
I awoke in the evening from a traveler's sleep

C               G7           C
With notions of something to eat



    F                    C
The old elevator slipped down past the floors

   F                         C                 G7
My head and my eyes said you should have slept more

    F                        C              Am
The man at the desk said the restaurant was closed

C              G7       C
Outside it was fourteen below



C                             G7          C
The lounge was still open and so I walked in

   F                      C
In place of my food I had two double gins

  F                          C             Am
I looked round the room as a tourist would do

C                     G7          C
That's when I saw the girl in the booth



    F                          C
She sat there and cried in the smoky half dark

    F                       C              G7
The silent type crying that tears out your heart

    F                       C              Am
Her clothes were not cut in the new modern way

C                    G7          C
And her suitcase had seen better days



C                     G7              C
Nobody asked her what caused her such pain

F                      C
Nobody spoke up yet no one complained

F                     C            Am
Without even asking I knew why she cried

C            G7            C
Life is just like that sometimes



    F                         C
The man at the desk said it's fifteen below

    F                     C                  G7
The bellhop said yeah man that's cold that's cold

  F                          C               Am
I went back to my room and I wrote down this song

C                  G7          C
Oh it sure can get cold in Des Moines