E A E A E

E               E6 *
Four and twenty years ago,
  E              E6
I come into this life
    E         E6
The son of a woman,
      E                E6
and a man who lived in strife
       G    A         E   E6
He was tired of being poor;
       G           A               E
and he wasn't into selling door to door
       G               A           E
And he worked like the devil to be more

E A E A E

  E                 E6      E             E6
A different kind of poverty now upsets me so
E           E6
Night after sleepless night,
  E                    E6
I walk the floor and I want to know;
G  A     E        E6
why am I so alone?
G           A            E
Where is my woman, can I bring her home?
G                  A
Have I driven her away?
       E
Is she gone?

E A E A E

E                E6
Morning comes to sunrise,
        E            E6
and I'm driven to my bed 
  E              E6
I see that it is empty, 
            E            E6
and there's devils in my head
    G    A         E            E6
I embrace the many colored beast,
       G            A
I grow weary of the torment;
          E
can there be no peace?
      G                A               E
And I find myself just wishing that my life would simply cease