Anti Chords by 1900

_ _ _ _ _ _
[Am] _ _ _ _ _ _
[Em] _ _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ [Am] _ _
I came into this world [Em] in the rough and ready year of 1923.
_ [C] It was a barbarous time.
It was a [D] bleak time and it was an [Am] uncivilized time.
_ _ My memories [Em] stretch back almost a hundred years.
And if I [C] close my eyes, I can smell [D] the poverty that oozes from the [Am] dusky tenement streets
of my boyhood.
I can [Em] taste on my lips the bread and drippings that I was served [C] for my tea.
I can remember extreme hunger [D] and my parents' undying [Am] love.
For me, _ _ _ _
[Em] _ _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _
[Am] in my heart, I can still feel my mom [Em] and dad's desperation as they tried to keep
our [C] family safe and healthy in the slum we called [D] home.
_ _ [Am] Poor mom and dad.
No matter how [Em] hard they tried to protect me and my sisters, [C] the cards were stacked against them.
_ _ [D] _ _ _
[Am] _ _ _ No one in our [Em] community was safe from poor health, sickness and [C] disease.
In our home, TV came for my [D] eldest sister, Marian.
[Am] She wasted away before our eyes until my mother [Em] could no longer handle her care.
And she was dispatched [C] to the workhouse in Burma where she died at the age of ten, [D] 87 years old. _
[Am] _ _ _ _ _ _
[Em] _ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _
[C] _ _ _ _ _
[D] My family story isn't unique.
[Am] Sadly, home and poverty and no health care [Em] were the norms for the Britain of my youth.
_ [C] That injustice galvanized my generation to [D] become the tide that raised [Am] all folks. _ _ _ _ _
[Em] _ _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _
I am not a politician, [Em] _ a member of the elite or a [C] financial guru.
But my life is your [D] history and we should keep it [Am] that way. _ _ _ _ _
[Em] _ _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [N] _