Old America
Old America

Old America easy guitar chords by Tom Russell

N/A•
Guitar
Tuning

E A D G B E

Capo

No capo

Capo

Transpose

0

Capo

  • G

  • C

  • Gsus4

  • G

  • C

  • Gsus4

    • Verse 1
    Yeah, those 
    angels of mercy 

    used to sing 
    and beg down 
    in

    Pershing 

    Square, 

    L .A. 

    Voices 
    that haunted me 
    and still do, 

    lost 
    nightmare 

    Jesus sounds 
    coming 
    out of the coins 

    rat
    tling in 
    a cup from 
    two 
    blind ladies. 

    I 
    was born in the city 
    of angels 

    in the late 1940s, 
    down on 

    Hope 

    Street, 
    near 

    Pershing 

    Square 
    and 

    Clifton's 
    cafeteria in 
    the pantry 
    and 
    all 

    them old strip 
    joint
    s on 
    5th and 

    Main. 

    You 
    know, tonight, 

    White 

    Fury 
    and her twin 44s, 

    Charles 

    Bukowski 
    territory, 
    beat 
    outsider 

    America 

    and the 
    music that's 
    been lost 
    from 
    that time, 

    taken off the radios. 

    You had 
    to have 
    been there. 

    The 
    backdrop 
    is 

    MacArthur 

    Park and 

    Hollywood 

    Court 

    Apartments and racetracks. 

    The old 

    America when 
    music still 
    resonated through 
    nightclubs, 

    people gambled 
    and drank 

    and 
    screwed and 
    smoked. 

    People went 
    down to the border 
    and 
    sipped highballs 

    and cocktails 
    and 
    went to the bullfights. 

    The 
    old 

    America where 
    the big guilt 
    and political correctness 

    and the 
    chain stores 
    had
    n't sunk 

    in so deep. 
    I 
    thought, 

    you know the 
    best person 
    to read these memories 
    would have been 

    Little 

    Jack 

    Horton. 

    He was 
    a circus midget 
    who actually used 

    to drink with 

    Bukowski back 
    in the 1950s. 

    Then 
    I find out 

    Little 

    Jack 

    Horton's still alive 
    and living in 

    Gidtown, 

    Florida with 

    all the old 
    -time carnies 
    and 
    circus people. 

    So 
    why the hell 
    do we 
    need any 

    fake 

    Hollywood 
    tough guys 
    here? 

    Here 
    today, 
    gone tomorrow, 

    boys 
    in masks, 
    flim 

    flamers, 
    magazine 
    faces. 

    We don't need 
    them. 

    Little 

    Jack 

    Horton 
    was 
    the king of 
    the carnival, 

    the voice 
    of the 
    great 

    American 

    Midway, 
    a voice 
    that sounds 
    like 
    ukulele 
    icon 
    laughing 
    gas, 

    the real 
    thing. 

    He's 
    been 
    shot 
    out of cannons, 

    he did the 
    pass 
    of 
    death 
    on a 

    Shetland 
    pony, 
    he rode 

    the four 
    walls 
    of eternity 
    on 
    a 
    motorcycle, 

    appeared 
    in movies 
    like 

    The 

    Terror of 

    Tiny 

    town 
    at one 
    -eyed 

    Jack's 
    with 

    Marlon 

    Brando, 
    and 
    he wrote poetry. 

    This is 
    a true 

    Amer
    ican 
    voice 
    from 
    the sawdust 

    backlots 
    of the old 
    world. 

    I 
    saw little 

    Jack 
    a 
    little while 
    ago, 

    gave him some 
    cassette 
    tapes 
    and a cheap 
    cassette 

    recorder 
    and 
    asked 
    him to 
    read some 

    of these 
    pages 
    on 

    Charles 

    Bukowski 
    memories. 

    Real 
    low 
    -fidelity 

    Americana 
    the way 
    it used to 
    be. 

    Ladies 
    and gentlemen, 
    it's 
    matinee 
    time. 

    Here's 
    little 

    Jack 

    Horton. 



    Thank 

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