It's a Hard Life (Nanci Griffith) I am a backseat driver from America We drive to the left on Falls Road. And the man at the wheel's name is Seamus, We pass a child on the corner he knows. And Seamus says "what chance has that kid got?" And I say from the back , "I don't know." He says there's barbed wire at all of these exits And there ain't no place in Belfast for that kid to go. 'Cause it's a hard life, it's a hard life, it's a very hard life It's a hard life wherever you go. And if we poison our childred with hatred Then the hard life is all that they'll know. And there ain't no place in Belfast for that kid to go. Cafeteria line in Chicago, The fat man in front of me Is calling black people trash to his children And he's the only trash here I see. And I'm thinking this man wears a white hood In the night when his children should sleep. But they'll slip to their windows and they'll see him And they'll think that white hood's all they need. 'Cause it's a hard life, it's a hard life, it's a very hard life It's a hard life wherever you go. And if we poison our children with hatred Then the hard life is all that they'll know. And there ain't no place in Chicago for those kids to go. I was a child in the sixties When dreams could be held through T.V. With Disney and Cronkite and Martin Luther And I believed, I believed, I believed. Now I am the backseat driver from America And I am not at the wheel of control. And I am guilty, I am war, and I am the root of all evil, Lord, and I can't drive on the left side of the road. 'Cause it's a hard life, it's a hard life, it's a very hard life It's a hard life wherever you go. And if we poison our children with hatred Then the hard life is all that they'll know. And there ain't no place in this world for those kids to go, 'Cause it's a hard life wherever you go. Copyright Nanci Griffith KX OCT98
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!