Chords for Tommy Makem ~ Cherish The Ladies

We're based in New York now and this is one of our immigrants all the way from the great
state of Michigan, Detroit, Michigan.
Kathy Ryan. _ _
_ _ _ _ We all live in immigrant communities in New York with the exception of Benan from Denver
and they're populated mostly by Irish people and a lot of them undocumented aliens and
we wrote this song for them.
It's called The Back Door.
_ _ [F] _ _ _ I didn't see the Statue of [C] _
Liberty, _ never [F] heard her welcoming [C] _ words.
_ [G] I came through the back door _ [C] silently, _ _ _
[G] _ unwanted, _ _ unseen, _ _ and [C] unheard.
I _
_ _ _ _ _ [Dm] know [G] I'm lonely [C] in this country, [Dm] I think [G] I always [C] have been. _ _
[F] I knew [G] as a child [C] I'd leave Ireland.
[Dm] The goodbyes were [G] coasts in the wind, _ _ _ [F] a dream [G] handed down in [C] my family. _
[Dm] Uncle Pat and [G] Aunt Anne before [C] him _ _ [Dm] and over [G] _ _ _
[C] _ me, _ all [D] the songs they [G] sang [C] were of leaving. _ _
[F] I didn't [G] see the Statue of [C] _
Liberty, _ [F] never [G] heard her welcoming [C] words.
I _ [Dm] came [G] through the back door [C] silently, _ _ _
[G] _ unwanted, _ _ _ unseen, _ and [C] unheard. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Dm] I don't [G] mind hard work [C] for a living, _ _ [Dm] there's so [G] much I'm able to [C] do.
_ _ [Dm] I can't [G] spend my life [C] as a living _ _ _ [Dm] with nothing to look [G] forward to.
_ _ [F] _
[Bm] [F] I want [G] my own bed and my [C] own kitchen.
_ _ _ [Dm] I want [G] my nights to [C] myself.
_ _ [Dm] I don't want [G] a high _ [C] ground anymore.
If [Dm] it means that I hide [G] from [C]
myself,
_ _ [Dm] give me your poor, [G] your tired, [C] _ _ [Am] _ _ [Dm] the [G] exiles of your teeming [C] shores. _ _
_ [Dm] Words carved deep in stone [E] and in the hearts back at [Dm] _ home, _
[C] but not meant for the living anymore.
_ I'm [Dm] _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ [C] _ _ [G] _ [Am] _ _ [Dm] _ _
[G] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _
[Dm] a long [G] time out [C] by the back door, [D] a long [G] time passing [C] unseen.
_ _ _ _ [F] Voices [G] that haunt me [C] are harsh now, [Am] _ _
[Dm] confuse me and urge [G] me to leave. _
_ _ [F] But I claim the [G] promise [C] of this [Am] country, _ [Dm] and I have [G] the right to [C] my own dream,
[F] and no [G] one can take [C] that away from [G] me.
[Am] _ [Dm] I have half a chance here, [C] I'm not leaving.
_ [Em] _ [F] I didn't [G] see the statue [C] of _ [Am] liberty, never [F] heard [G] her welcoming [C] words. _
_ [F] I came [G] through the back door, [C] silently.
[Am] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
Unwanted, unseen, _ _ and [C] _ unheard. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ Wanted, _ _ unseen, _ _ _ [C] and _ unheard.
_ _ _ _ _ [N] _
_ Thank you. _ _ _ _