Key: G major
Verse 1
E
Come to the door, Ma,
A
E
and unlock the chain
I was just passin' through and
A
got caught in the rain
There's nothin' I want, nothin'
E
that you need say
Just let me lie down for a while
B
E
and I'll be on my way
A
I was no more than a kid when you put me on the Southern
Verse 2
E
Queen
With the police on my back
A
I fled to New Orleans
I fought in the dockyards and with the money I
E
made
I knew the fight was my home
and blood was my trade
A
Baton Rouge, Ponchatoula, and Lafayette
Verse 3
E
town
Well they paid me their money,
A
Ma, I knocked the men down
I did what I did well it come
E
easily
Restraint and mercy,
B
E
A
Ma, were always strangers to me
E
A
Verse 4
E
I fought champion Jack Thompson in a
A
E
field full of mud
Rain poured through the tent to the canvas
A
and mixed with our blood
In the twelfth I slipped my tongue
E
over my broken jaw
I stood over him and pounded his bloody
A
body into the floor
Well the bell rang and rang and
E
still I kept on
'Till I felt my glove leather slip
'tween his skin and bone
A
Then the women and the money came fast and the days I lost
Verse 5
E
track
The women red, the money green,
A
but the numbers were black
I fought for the men in their silk suits
E
to lay down their bets
I took my good share, Ma, I have
no regrets
Verse 6
E
Then I took the fix at the state armory with big John
McDowell
From high in the rafters
A
I watched myself fall
As they raised his arm my stomach
E
twisted and the sky it went black
I stuffed my bag with their good money
B
E
and I never looked back
A
Understand, in the end, Ma, every man plays the
Verse 7
E
game
If you know me one different then
speak out his name
A
Ma, if my voice now
you don't recognize
E
Then just open the door and look
B
E
into your dark eyes
A
I ask of you nothin', not
a kiss not a smile,
E
Just open the door and let me
B
lie down for a while
E
Now
Verse 8
the gray rain's fallin' and my
A
E
ring fightin's done
So in the work fields and alleys I take all
A
who'll come
If you're a better man than me then
E
just step to the line
Show me your money and speak out
A
your crime
Now there's nothin' I want, Ma, nothin'
E
that you need say
Just let me lie down for a while and
B
E
I'll be on my way
Verse 9
E
Tonight in the shipyard a man draws a circle
in the dirt
I move to the center and I take off
A
my shirt
I study him for the cuts, the scars,
the pain,
E
Man, nor time can erase
I move hard to the left and
A
E
A
I strike to the face
E
A
E
How did you like the song?
TunerE A D G B E
ChordsE A B
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