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