The Hostage Chords by Tom Paxton

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[Eb] _ _ [Abm] _ _ [Db] _ _ [E] _ [Abm] _
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I'm a guard in the gray iron curtain, at least I was till now.
It [E] was never a picnic, social [Abm] never a day. _
They never come in laughing and you know we never taught them how.
It [E] was damn hard work and you wouldn't [Abm] believe the pay. _
It was early in the morning, [E] Lord I wasn't [Abm] but a half-wake,
[E] when the conguineutsin took us by [Abm] surprise. _
I never was one for shaking but I found it hard to stand,
[E] with a 16th blade held [Abm] right between my _ eyes.
You could hear a siren blowing, [E] somebody [Abm] yelled in pain,
[E] then it got so quiet you could hear a [Abm] bird walk by. _
They all had masks on their faces, spoke with the voice that came,
[E] you could come in shooting and you know you [Abm] found a dime. _
[E] You could come in shooting and you know you [Abm] found a dime.
_ _ _ _ Well I turned to a buddy named Willie, I said Willie it'll be alright.
[E] If they meant to kill us we'd be halfway [Abm] down to hell.
See they hijack a plane in the desert, and the government screams and cries,
[E] but to save some lives they open up [Abm] a prison cell.
So the days kept coming and going, [E] tension was [Abm] getting high,
but I [E] wasn't too worried I figured I [Abm] knew the score.
_ I knew they were talking to someone, I knew they were willing to try,
[E] so I figured my freedom was a matter of [Abm] a day or two more.
_ And then Jesus, early this morning, [E] the whirly bird [Abm] dropped the gas,
[E] it made me puke and it brought me [Abm] to my knees.
_ The bullets came like hail [E] stones, I heard the [Abm] first one pass,
[E] then they cut down Willie and they got Jim [Abm] Kelly and me.
_ [E] Oh they cut down Willie and they got Jim [Abm] Kelly and me.
_ They come in yelling curses [E] like they was crossing a river Rhine,
shot down every god damn [Abm] thing they saw.
_ And while I lay there wounded [E] I took another one in my spine,
and poor Jim Kelly took [Abm] another one in his jaw.
_ [E] Oh poor Jim Kelly took another one [Abm] in his jaw. _ _ _ _ _
They say we had our throats cut, by being a desperate man.
[E] Say they saved just as many of [Abm] us as they could.
Well the governor he should know it, but I think I'll say it again,
[E] that the governor cut my throat and he cut [Abm] it good. _ _
Yeah let them take governor, hold him for a couple of days,
[E] see who goes and shoot and set [Abm] him free.
Hell they'd open every jail in the country, send them on their way,
they'd [E] never do to him what the governor done [Abm] to me. _
[E] They'd never do to him what the governor done to [Abm] me. _
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