Intro (Live) chords by Drive-By Truckers

SimplifiedG · Am · Bm · C · D …

GuitarPianoUkulele

Verse 1
G 
Am 
G 
We  put out a new record last
fall called American Band
and this was the first song I wrote for the
record
and when I wrote it
I wasn't really even thinking
in terms of writing a song for my band
Bm 
or anything  it was
G 
Bm 
it was way more personal
G 
than that it wasn't
it wasn't political
C 
it was personal
Am 
Bm 
C 
G 
an  d I'd been watch
ing the news
D 
about three years ago
G 
and we were just out touring
C 
behind a new record
G 
so we weren't even thinking
about making another record
C 
yet that wasn't the plan
G 
and all the stuff was coming on the news
the Ferguson decision
C 
G 
and Trayvon Martin and Cleveland
Am 
it just kept happening every
G 
where and I remember
I remember a neighbor I'd had
when I first moved to Georgia,
C 
which is one of the most lovely towns in the world,
G 
and I was living in this
neighborhood
that I could afford to move into
D 
G 
on Ruth Street,
and our neighbor across the street
C 
G 
C 
was this older African  -American lady,
G 
and she was just as nice as she could
be.
She was always out working in her garden,
C 
G 
Em 
and her son was about early 20s,
C 
G 
and he hadn't advanced beyond
C 
about an eight or nine -year -old level as far as he, you know,
G 
G 
he had problems, you know, like happens.
C 
G 
But he was a sweet kid
who just happened to be grown up,
and he also happened to be African
and American in the deep South,
and they were deeply religious.
D 
Bm 
G 
And  one day,
D 
F 
G 
the Lord told him to cast off all worldly things
D 
and go out and spread the word of Jesus.
G 
And he interpreted that to mean take off
all your clothes
and go downtown and
talk about the Lord.
And so that's what he did.
And he took off running
and his mama was worried about
him.
C 
So she called 9 -1 -1
G 
because she
wanted them to bring her boy back.
And they did,
C 
but not before they shot him seven times.
G 
And he was unarmed, he was unclothed,
but in our society,
F 
the way we've for some reason gone wrong
G 
to believe the other is
the enemy
Em 
and they're out to get you.
C 
And I don't care who you are.
G 
That's what our society keeps preaching,
Em 
G 
D 
you know, and that's why it's dangerous when the person who calls himself the leader of the free world
Am 
G 
is spreading such fucking bullshit
F 
on a national level,
G 
on an international level,
and tweeting at three in the morning
and telling cops that
they shouldn't be soft on people
as they're putting their
Em 
heads into the police car.
G 
they should maybe bash their heads
against the side of the car.
Think about that.
That's the message we're sending out
Ebm 
to our young people.
C 
G 
And it fucking makes me sick.
And like I said, I wasn't trying to
get all political.
It was personal.
It was fucking personal.
G 
That was my neighbor.
And I knew his mama,
and she was so sweet.
G 
And I used to see him.
They would always wave
when we'd come and go.
G 
C 
And, you know,
it's this fear of the other
that's got to stop
before we can
progress as a country
and become
the people we're supposed to be.