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