Key: G major•
Verse 1
through and through
Drinkin' and fightin'
was all he ever knew
Born with a corncob in his mouth
In Thibodaux, Louisiana, way down south
F
C
His daddy died drunk with
a belly full of rum
People said that old boy was
born to be a bum
Hanging around with the rest of the riff -raff
down at the pool hall on Main Street
Wearing a red bandana
and a sweaty old straw hat
and Union all -cover, all dirty bare feet
People said,
that old boy was born to be a bum
Rufus?
Who's gonna miss
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Dm
you when you're gone?
D
C
Will it be the black man
you called a nigger?
The hippie that you beat up
just cause you was bigger?
Will the riff -raff laugh
D
Dm
at the epitaph on your tombstone?
D
G
I'll betcha it says, Here lies Rufus,
born to be a bum,
Died like his daddy with a
F
G
belly full of rum.
Well, Rufus went walking
one cold dark night,
Drunker than a skunk
and spoiling for a fight
They beat up an old man
named Booker T. Clay
Just because the man was black
and he was standing in the way
in the sharecropper's slum
where the shot came from
that old boy was born to be a boss
just two days later
D
Dm
D
And laid him out cold and alone
was the only man there
He bought the great margarine,
he said a little prayer
Now people passin' by stop and stare
Dm
D
G
It says, here lies Rufus,
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Dm
He died like his daddy,
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G
with a belly full of rye
Yeah, it's gonna cry when you die,
you know
Oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah
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TunerE A D G B E
ChordsG F C D Dm
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