home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- #----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#
- #This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
- #song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
- #------------------------------------------------------------------------------##
- From: schn0170@maroon.tc.umn.edu (Adam Schneider)
-
- IT'S A HARD LIFE WHEREVER YOU GO (Nanci Griffith)
- -------------------------------------------------
- * Actually in C; capo 5.
- * The whole song has pretty much the same chords, illustrated by the
- following pattern (the strumming is just an example, taken from the intro).
- The only exception is the beginning of the chorus.
-
- D C(9) G
- E 0h2-2-2-2-2-3---3-3-3-3-|3---3-3-3---3-----3-3-3-|
- B 3---3-3-3-3-3---3-3-3-3-|3---3-3-3---3-----3-3-3-|
- G 2---2-2-2-2-0---0-0-0-0-|0---0-0-0---0-----0-0-0-|
- D 0---0-0-0-0-0h2-2-2-2-2-|0---0-0-0---0-----0-0-0-|
- A ------------0h3-3-3-3-3-|0h2-2-2-2---2-----2-2-2-|
- E ------------------------|0h3-3-3-3---3-----3-3-3-|
- d d u d u d d u d u d d u d d u d u <--strumming
-
-
- D C(9) G G D C(9) G G
- [intro]
- D C(9) G G
- I am a backseat driver from America
- D C(9) G G
- We drive to the left on Falls Road
- D C(9) G G
- And the man at the wheel's name is Seamus
- D C(9) G G
- We pass a child on the corner he knows
-
- And Seamus says, now what chance has that kid got
- And I say from the back, I don't know
- He says there's barbed wire at all of these exits
- And there ain't no place in Belfast for that kid to go
-
- C(9) G C(9) G
- 'Cause it's a hard life, it's a hard life, it's a very hard life
- D C(9) G G
- It's a hard life wherever you go
- D C(9) G G
- And if we poison our children with hatred
- D C(9) G G
- Then the hard life is all that they'll know
- D C(9) G G
- And there ain't no place in Belfast for that kid to go
-
- Cafeteria line in Chicago
- The fat man in front of me
- Is calling black people trash to his children
- And he's the only trash here I see
-
- And I am thinking this man wears a white hood
- In the night when his children should sleep
- But they'll slip to their windows and they'll see him
- And they'll think that white hood's all they need
-
- 'Cause it's a hard life, it's a hard life, it's a very hard life
- It's a hard life wherever you go
- And if we poison our children with hatred
- Then the hard life is all that they'll know
- And there ain't no place in Chicago for those kids to go
-
- I was a child in the Sixties
- When dreams could be held through T.V.
- With Disney and Cronkite and Martin Luther
- And I believed, I believed, I believed
-
- Now I am the backseat driver from America
- And I am not at the wheel of control
- And I am guilty, I am war, and I am the root of all evil
- Lord, and I can't drive on the left side of the road
-
- 'Cause it's a hard life, it's a hard life, it's a very hard life
- It's a hard life wherever you go
- And if we poison our children with hatred
- Then the hard life is all that they'll know
- And there ain't no place in this world for those kids to go
- 'Cause it's a hard life wherever you go
-
-
- NOTE for a 2nd guitar:
- Judy Neuwirth (judynew@pipeline.com) tells me that Frank Christian
- (a friend and backup guitarist of Nanci Griffith's) was her guitar
- teacher at one point, and he said that when he toured with Nanci, he
- played these chords over Nanci's D C G sequence (NO capo for Frank's
- chords)...
-
- G: x-x-12-12-10-10 F: x-x-10-10-8-8 C: x-x-5-5-5-3
- (also xx5533 for C)
-
-
-
- - Adam Schneider, schn0170@maroon.tc.umn.edu
-
-
-