Chords for Steve Earle, "Tom Ames' Prayer" // Lost Dog Street Band

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[A] I don't want to let it go, but you told me you would tell me [E] so bad
[F#m] Who's sheriff, [D] who's officer, who's in the [A] jail, such was the time when he was ten
And one day his dad gave him a penny on a bill and he tucked [E] it in his hand
[F#m] Said I can tell you're a better [D] patrol boy, [A] my mom wouldn't understand
And he took that money, his brother's old bail, and put that over [E] his [A] face
Well he followed around some border towns and tucked it up his back
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_ Well outside of the law you'll look around at fast and nears, they [E] came and waited
[F#m] Till they was stuck [D] in a alley in Abilene [A] with all the poor she'll speak
And then he realized the praise of the old lady that he'd [E] never [F#m] cried
And he wasn't sure [D] that he knew [A] quite how, but then sheriff at the sky
He said you don't owe me nothing and as far as I know Lord I don't owe nothing [E] to you
[F#m] And I ain't asking for a miracle [A] Lord, just a little bit of luck will do
And you know I ain't never prayed before and I almost [E] seem to be it
[F#m] Better pray and say a [D] lot like begging Lord, [A] I don't pay no charity
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Well what about it now, back to the law, can't help but recall
[F#m] How they usually talk [D] to you through a skewer and a [A] horse, reports from Arkansas
And Judge Parker said guilty, the gallows came down, so the lock court's [E] in a shot
[F#m] And I went away [D] quiet, but did [A] not begin to file a plot
Oh preacher, it cannot sail, he said the Lord's a [E] lonely boat
[F#m] And he's the only friend [D] that you're gonna have [A] when you get to the parking lot
And you guess he could have kept on preaching the Christmas light, but he turned back [E] on me
[F#m] And I put a homemade [D] blade to that golden [E] throne that said, it [A] can't go to me
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Well _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
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it ain't the first blow a scholar ever had, so I'm sure you already know
I need some help from you [D] Lord, and the devil [A] himself is been strictly touching go
But who in the hell am I talking to, there ain't nobody [E] here but [F#m] me
And then he caught him with his [E] pistol and he spit in the dirt and he walked [A] out in that street _