Chords for Josh White: Hard Times Blues (1956)

_ _ This is a true song written in 1941 when I went to visit my mother in Greenville, South Carolina
And I saw children with their bellies poking out.
I wonder what was happening when I arrived home.
I found out it was a sharecroppers blues
_ My definition of sharecroppers is this
_ Sharecroppers are people that are poor and necessities of life, and they're stinking rich on hard times
You might hear them singing a song like this called a hard time blues
[Eb] _ _ _ [Gm] _ _ [Ebm] _ _ _
_ [Fm] _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ _ [Ab] _ [Fm] _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ Well, [Fm] I went down home about a year ago _ _ _ _ _ _
Things so [F] bad, Lord, my heart was [Bb] sore
_ _ _ [Eb] Folk had nothing, it was a sin and a [C] shame _ _ _
Everybody said hard time was to blame.
[Ab] Great God, the mighty [C] folks feeling bad, lost everything [Fm] they ever had
Great [C] God, the mighty folks feeling bad, lost everything they [Fm] ever had _ _
Now the sun wasn't shining, 14 days and no rain
_ _ Hoving and planting was [F] all in [Bb] vain
_ They had hard, hard _ _ times
Dawn _ all around
[C] _ _ _ _ [D] Meal-bound, empty crops burying to the ground
Great [C] God, the mighty folks feeling bad, lost [Fm] everything they ever _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
[Fm] had
_ _ They had skinny-looking children bellies [Eb] poking [Fm] out
_ _ That old pledgry without a [Bb] doubt
_ _ Old folk hanging round the cabin _ [C] door
_ Ain't seen time this hard for
[Fm] Great God, [C] the mighty folks feeling bad, lost [Fm] everything they _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
[Fm] ever had
_ _ Well, I went to the boss at the commissary's store
_ Folks _ all starving, please don't close your door
[Bb] _
_ We want more food and a little more time to [C] pay _
Boss man left and walked away
Great God, the mighty folks feeling [G] bad, lost [Fm] everything they ever _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ [Fm] had _
Now your landlord [Ab] comes around when your rent is due
[Fm] _ And if you ain't got his money, he'll take you home from [Bb] you
_ _ He'll take your mule and horse, [N] even take your [C] car
_ Says, get off of [Fm] my land, you're no good, no how
Great God, the [C] mighty folks [Gm] feeling bad, [C] lost everything [Fm] they ever had
Great God, the [C] mighty folks feeling [Ab] bad, lost [C] everything they [F] ever had
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _