Nanci Griffith - Its A Hard Life Chords & Tabs

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#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
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From: schn0170@maroon.tc.umn.edu (Adam Schneider)

IT'S A HARD LIFE WHEREVER YOU GO (Nanci Griffith)
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*  Actually in C; capo 5.
*  The whole song has pretty much the same chords, illustrated by the
following pattern (the strumming is just an example, taken from the intro).
The only exception is the beginning of the chorus.

  D           C(9)         G
E 0h2-2-2-2-2-3---3-3-3-3-|3---3-3-3---3-----3-3-3-|
B 3---3-3-3-3-3---3-3-3-3-|3---3-3-3---3-----3-3-3-|
G 2---2-2-2-2-0---0-0-0-0-|0---0-0-0---0-----0-0-0-|
D 0---0-0-0-0-0h2-2-2-2-2-|0---0-0-0---0-----0-0-0-|
A ------------0h3-3-3-3-3-|0h2-2-2-2---2-----2-2-2-|
E ------------------------|0h3-3-3-3---3-----3-3-3-|
  d   d u d u d   d u d u  d   d u d   d     u d u    <--strumming


D  C(9)  G  G    D  C(9)  G  G
[intro]
        D         C(9)        G     G
I am a backseat driver from America
   D             C(9)         G    G
We drive to the left on Falls Road
        D            C(9)            G    G
And the man at the wheel's name is Seamus
          D             C(9)        G    G
We pass a child on the corner he knows

And Seamus says, now what chance has that kid got
And I say from the back, I don't know
He says there's barbed wire at all of these exits
And there ain't no place in Belfast for that kid to go
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/n/nanci_griffith/its_a_hard_life_crd.html ]
              C(9)              G                 C(9)      G
'Cause it's a hard life, it's a hard life, it's a very hard life
       D             C(9)      G    G
It's a hard life wherever you go
          D             C(9)        G     G
And if we poison our children with hatred
         D             C(9)               G    G
Then the hard life is all that they'll know
                 D            C(9)            G        G
And there ain't no place in Belfast for that kid to go

Cafeteria line in Chicago
The fat man in front of me
Is calling black people trash to his children
And he's the only trash here I see

And I am thinking this man wears a white hood
In the night when his children should sleep
But they'll slip to their windows and they'll see him
And they'll think that white hood's all they need

'Cause it's a hard life, it's a hard life, it's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
And if we poison our children with hatred
Then the hard life is all that they'll know
And there ain't no place in Chicago for those kids to go

I was a child in the Sixties
When dreams could be held through T.V.
With Disney and Cronkite and Martin Luther
And I believed, I believed, I believed

Now I am the backseat driver from America
And I am not at the wheel of control
And I am guilty, I am war, and I am the root of all evil
Lord, and I can't drive on the left side of the road

'Cause it's a hard life, it's a hard life, it's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
And if we poison our children with hatred
Then the hard life is all that they'll know
And there ain't no place in this world for those kids to go
'Cause it's a hard life wherever you go


NOTE for a 2nd guitar:
  Judy Neuwirth (judynew@pipeline.com) tells me that Frank Christian
(a friend and backup guitarist of Nanci Griffith's) was her guitar
teacher at one point, and he said that when he toured with Nanci, he
played these chords over Nanci's D C G sequence (NO capo for Frank's
chords)...

G: x-x-12-12-10-10    F: x-x-10-10-8-8    C: x-x-5-5-5-3
                                        (also xx5533 for C)

- Adam Schneider, schn0170@maroon.tc.umn.edu