Use Me While You Can Chords by Bruce Cockburn

_ _ _ _ _ I believe that most of these verses come from Mali. _ _ _
_ _ Go Mali.
_ _ [D] The football championships were on, the sort of Pan-African football championships when I was there. _ _
Everybody was saying their version of Go Mali. _ _
_ [D] It's a place where there's been a lot of change over the years as with other places,
but the change somehow [A] is _ something you feel in the wind, in the sand that's blowing.
_ _ [D] _
_ _ _ That's kind of where this song is coming from. _
_ [Dm] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ There's a black and white crow on the back of a two-toned sheep
in a field of broken yellow stalks below looming cliffs. _ _
_ High above the plain, little grey houses blend with giant jagged boulders and pale weathered stumps.
[A] _ _ Life in the ghost [Dm] of the bush.
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [D] Wind whips the acacias in the strange forked palms that cluster around the waterhole. _
_ _ _ Suddenly, out of the blowing sand, a milk-white camel appears.
_ Turbaned rider, blue robe billowing, bounces with the shambling trot.
Wears a sword and a rifle on his back, and around his neck a transistor radio.
_ _ You blink and like [Dm] ghosts, they're gone. _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ Under the wand-disk of sand-masked sun, a woman grins,
spits expertly into the path of a struggling black beetle.
[A] Six feet away, _ _ hoists her water bucket onto her head and strides off up the trail.
_ [A] _
_ _ [D] _ _ [A] _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Sun [G] of steel ball glowing, _ _ _ _ _ [A] behind endless blowing sand.
[Bm] _ _ [G] _ _ [D] _
Sun of [G] steel _ ball glowing,
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
Dust of fallen [D] empires [G] slowly flowing [Bm] through my [A] hands. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [C] Use me [D] while you can.
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Pearl-held in black finger _ is _ _ the [C] moon behind dry [Bm] trees. _ _ _ _ _
Pearl [C]-held in _ [Bm] black finger,
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
bird inside [C] the _ ribcage [Bm] is beating to be free.
[A] _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ [C] _ Use me while you can.
[D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [F]
I've had breakfast in New Orleans, _ dinner in [D] Timbuktu.
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [F] _
I've lived as a stranger in my own house [D] too.
Dark _ _ _ _ _ [F] _
_ -haired waves at lamplight, cowrie-shelled [D] patterns change,
_ _ _ _ _ _ [F]
and nothing will be the same _ [D] _
again. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Bullet in a _ sandstorm, _ _ _ _ _ [C] looking for a place to [Bm] land.
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _
Bullet [C] in a [Bm] sandstorm,
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
full heart [G] beats an empty one, _ [Bm] in the deck they doubt a [A] man.
_ [E] _ _ [Em] _
_ _ [C] Use me while you can.
_ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _
_ _ _ [C] Use me while [D] you can. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ [Em] _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _
_ [F#] _ _ _ _ _ _ [G#] _