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#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. #
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From:
[email protected] (Adam Schneider)
IT S A HARD LIFE WHEREVER YOU GO (Nanci Griffith)
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* 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.
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
(9)
[intro]
I am a backseat driver from America
We drive to the left on Falls Road
And the man at the wheel s name is Seamus
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
(9)
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 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 (
[email protected]) 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)...
: x-x-12-12-10-10 : x-x-10-10-8-8 : x-x-5-5-5-3
(also xx5533 for )
- Adam Schneider,
[email protected]