Chords for James McMurtry :: We Can't Make it Here

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_ _ _ _ [C] _ _ [G] _ _
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[D] _ [G] There's a Vietnam vet [D] with a cardboard [C] sign, sitting there by [G] the left turn line, a flag
on his [F] wheelchair flapping in the [C] breeze, one leg [G] missing and both hands free.
_ _ _ No one's [F] paying much mind to [C] him, the VA budgets [G] just stretch so thin, and there's more coming
back from [D] the mid-east war, we can't make it here [G] anymore. _ _
_ _ _ _ [Gm] And that big [G] old building was a [F] textile [C] mill, it fed our [G] kids and it paid our bills, but
they turned us out and they [D] closed the doors, we can't make it here [G] anymore.
You _ _ _ _ see those pallets piled up [D] on the loading dock, [C] they're just gonna sit there till they
rock, cause there's nothing to ship, [D] nothing to pack, [G] just busted concrete and rusted tracks.
Empty [D] storefronts around the square, [C] there's a needle in the [G] gutter and glass everywhere,
you don't come down here unless you're looking to [C] score, we [G] can't make it here anymore. _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ [G] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
[G] _ The bar's still open but man [C] it's slow, the tip [G] jar's light and the register's low, the
bartender don't [F] have much to say, [C] the regular crowd [G] gets thinner each day.
_ _ Some have maxed out all their [D] credit cards, some are [C] working two jobs and [G] living in cars,
minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink if you [Gm] gotta have proof, just
try it yourself Mr.
[D] CEO, see how [C] far 515 an [G] hour will go, take a part time [D] job at one
of your stores, I bet you can't make it here [G] anymore. _
[C] _ _ [G] _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ [G] _ _ [D] _ _ [G] _ _
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[F] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ [G] _ _ The [Gm] high school girl with the bourgeois [C] dream, just like the pictures [G] in the magazine, she
found on the floor [F] of the [C] laundromat, a woman with kids [G] can forget all that, she comes up
[C] pregnant, what'll she do?
Forget the career, [G] forget about school, can she live on faith,
live [C] on hope?
High on [G] Jesus or hooked on dope when it's way too late [C] to just say no, you
can't [G] make it here anymore.
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[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ I'm stocking shirts in a Walmart [C] store, just [G] like the ones we made before, except this
one came [F] from Singapore, I [G] guess we can't make it here [G] anymore. _ _ _ _ _
_ Should I hate a people [F] for the shade of their skin [C] or the shape of their eyes [G] or the shape
I'm in, should I hate them for having [D] our jobs today, no I [G] hate the men sent the jobs away.
_ _ _ I can see them all now, [C] they haunt my dreams, all lily [G] white and squeaky clean, they never
known want, they never known need, the shit don't stink and the kids won't bleed, the
kids won't bleed in [D] the damn little war and we can't make it here [G] anymore.
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[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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[Gm] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
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[Gm] _ [G] _ We'll work for food, we'll die for oil, we'll kill for power and to us the spoils, the billionaires
get to pay less tax, the working poor get to fall through the cracks.
_ _ So let them eat jelly [F] beans, let them eat cake, let them [G] eat shit, whatever it takes,
they can join the Air Force [D] or join the Corps if they can't make it here [G] anymore. _ _
[C] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _
[Gm] _ [C] _ _ [G] So that's how it is, that's what we [C] got, if the [G] president wants to admit it or not, you
can read it in the paper, read it on the [C] wall, hear it on the [G] wind if you're listening at
all, get out of that [D] limo and look us in the [C] eye, call us on the cell [G] phone, tell us all
why, in Dayton, Ohio [D] or Portland, Maine [C] or a cotton gin out on [G] the great high plains.
Let's done close [Gm] down along with the school [G] and the hospital and the swimming pool, dust
devils dance [F] in the noonday heat, [C] there's rats [G] in the alley and trash in the street,
gang graffiti on [F] a [D] boxcar door, _ [C] we can't make it here anymore.
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