Chords for James McMurtry - We Can't Make It Here - Live from Mountain Stage

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_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ [A] _ _
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_ _ Here's a Vietnam vet with a [G] cardboard sign, [F#m] sitting there by the [A] left turn line.
Flag on his wheelchair, [G] flapping in the [F#m] breeze.
One leg missing and [A] both hands free. _ _ _
No one's paying [G] much mind to [D] him.
The VA budgets [A] just stretch the thin.
And there's more coming [G] back from the Mideast War.
[F#m] We can't make it [A] here anymore.
[E] _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ [A] _ _ _ That big old building was a textile mill.
It fed our kids and it paid our bills.
But they turned us out and they closed the doors.
We [F#m] can't make it here [A] anymore. _
_ _ _ _ You see those pallets piled up [G] on the loading dock?
[D] They're just gonna sit [A] there till they rot.
Cause there's nothing to ship.
Nothing to pack.
Busted concrete and rusted tracks.
Empty [Am] storefronts around the square.
[F#m] There's a needle in the [A] gutter and glass everywhere.
You don't come down here [G] unless you're looking to score.
[A] We can't make it here anymore.
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[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
[A] _ _ [E] _ [A] The bar's still open but man [D] it's slow.
The tip of the shard's light [A] and the register's low.
The bartender don't [G] have much to say.
[D] The regular crowd's [A] getting thinner each day. _ _
_ _ _ _ Some have maxed out [G] all their credit cards.
[F#m] Some are working two [A] jobs and living in cars.
Minimum [G] wage won't pay for a roof.
[F#m] Won't pay for a drink [A] if you gotta have proof.
Try it yourself Mr.
[G] CEO.
[D] See how far 5.15 an [A] hour will go.
Take a part time job at one of [Am] your stores.
I bet you [C] can't make it here anymore.
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[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ [G] _ _ [A] _ _ [B] _ _
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[A] _ _ [E] _ _ [A] _ _ [G] _ _
[A] _ _ [E] _ [A] There's a high school girl [G] with a bourgeois [F#m] dream.
Just like the pictures [A] in the magazine.
She found on the floor [G] of the laundromat.
[F#m] A woman with kids can [A] forget all that. _ _ _ _
_ _ If she comes up pregnant [G] what'll she do?
[F#m] Forget the career, [A] forget about school.
Can she live on faith, [G] live on hope?
[F#m] High on [A] Jesus and hooked on dope.
When it's way too late [G] to just say no.
[F#m] You can't make it [A] here anymore.
_ _ _ [A] _ _
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_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
[B] _ Now stocking [G] shirts in the Walmart [D] store.
Just like the [A] ones we made before.
Except this one [G] came from Singapore.
[F#m] I guess we can't make it [A] here anymore.
_ _ [Am] _ _ _
[A] Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin?
[F#m] Or the shape of their [A] eyes?
Or the shape I'm in?
Should I hate them for [G] having our jobs today?
[F#m] No, but I hate the [A] men sent their jobs away.
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I can see them all [G] now.
They haunt my [F#m] cranes all lily [A] white and squeaky clean.
The un-never-known [G] wants, the un-never-known [F#m] needs.
This shit don't [A] stink.
The kids won't bleed.
The kids won't [G] bleed in the damn little [F#m] wars.
And we can't make it [A] here anymore.
[E] _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ [A] _ _ _ We'll work for [G] food, we'll die for [D] oil.
We'll kill for [A] power and to us the spoils.
The [G] billionaires get to pay less [F#] tax.
The working [A] poor get to fall through the cracks. _
_ _ _ _ _ So let them eat [G] jelly beans, let them eat [D] cake.
Let them eat [A] shit, whatever it takes.
They can join the [G] Air Force or join the [F#] Corps
if they can't make it [A] here.
_ [E] _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ [A] So that's how it is.
That's what we got.
If the president wants to admit it or not,
you can read it in the paper.
Read it on [F#m] the wall or hear it on the [A] wind
if you're listening at all.
Get out of that limo.
Look us in the [F#m] eye.
Call us on a [A] cell phone.
Tell us all why in Dayton, Ohio,
[G] Portland, [F#m] Maine, or a cotton gin out [A] on the great high plains.
It's done, closed down along with the school
[F#m] and the hospital [A] and the swimming pool.
Dust devils dance [G] in the noon day.
Heatin' [F#m] as rats in the alley [A] and trash in the street.
Gang graffiti [G] on a boxcar door.
[A] _ [F#m] We can't make it here [A] anymore.
Thank
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[E] _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
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[A] _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
you so much.
[N] It's been wonderful. _ _ _ _