Jesus, The Missing Years Chords by John Prine

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Thank you.
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [N] I got the idea for this song, I guess somebody was telling me at a party once,
_ a couple of years back, I don't know how we got around to this conversation, but
somebody started telling me that there was all these missing years in the life of Jesus.
He was
missing from the time he was 12 until he was 30. _ _ _ _ _ _
And I said, you mean _ like nobody knew where he
was?
And he said, nobody. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ So that kind of like stuck in the back of my mind, you know, _ _
about nobody.
_ One of the most _ influential and controversial figures in the history of mankind, _
nobody knows where he was for 18 years. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ I snuck away on a fishing trip once with his waitress _ _
for _ _ a couple of days.
And by the time we got back to Nashville, everybody knew where we were. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ Jesus, the missing years.
[A] _ [G] _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ It was raining, it was cold.
_ _ _ [Fm] West Bethlehem was no place for a [F] 12 year
old.
_ _ _ _ [G]
So he packed his bag and he headed out. _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ He went to France, he went to Spain.
_ _ [F] He found love,
he found pain.
_ _ [G] He found stores.
So he started to shop.
_ He had no money, so he got in trouble with
[C] _ _ _ _ _
his kids in trouble with the cops from Israel didn't have no home.
_ [F] So he cut his hair and he
moved around.
_ _ [G] It was there he met his Irish bride.
_ And he rented a flat on the Lower East Side.
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] Music publishers, _ bookbinders, _ Bible belters, _ money changers, spoon benders,
and lots of [D] pretty Italian [C] chicks. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Charlie bought some popcorn, _ _ [F] Billy bought a car, _
_ [G] _ _ someone almost bought the farm, but they didn't go [C] that far. _
Things shut down at midnight, _
[F] at least around here they do.
_ [G] Because we all reside down the block outside at _ _ [C] 23s,
wine _ _ _ _ _ _ _ was flowing, so were beers.
_ [F] So Jesus found his missing years.
_ _ [G] He went to a dance and said,
this don't move me.
So he acted his dance and he went to [C] a movie.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
On his 13th birthday, he saw Rebel Without a Cause.
_ _ [D] [F] He went straight on home and invented Santa Claus.
_ _ _ _ [G] _
Gave him a gift and he responded in kind.
He gave a gift of love and went out of his [C] mind. _ _ _
_ You see, him and the wife wasn't getting along.
_ _ [F] So he took out his guitar and he wrote a song
_ [G] _ called The Devil's Love Fell Off the Perch.
_ But he couldn't get divorced in the Catholic [C] Church, _ _ _ _
at least not back [F] then anyhow. _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ Jesus was a good guy.
[C] _ He didn't need this yet. _
_ [F] So he took a pill with a bag of peanuts and a Coca-Cola and he swallowed it.
_ [G] _ He discovered the Beatles.
_ _ He recorded with the Stones.
_ _ _ Once he even [A] opened up a three-way package in [Gm] Southern California for [D] old George [C] Jones.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Charlie bought some popcorn _ _ [F]
and Billy bought a little car.
_ _ [Gm] Someone _ [G] almost bought the farm, but they didn't know [C] that far.
_ _ Things shut down at midnight, _ [F] at least around here they did.
_ [G] Cause we all reside down the block inside of [D] _ [B] [C] 23's Cadiz. _ _ _ _ _ _
The years went by like sweet little days, [F]
with babies crying pork chops and Beaujolais.
[G] _
When he woke up, he was 17. _
The world was angry.
The world was [C] mean. _ _
_ _ _ Well, the man down the street and the kid on the stoop [F] all agreed to life's
stank.
The whole world smelled like [D] poop. _ _
Baby [G] poop, that is.
_ _ The worst [C] kind. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ So he grew his hair long and threw away his comb, _ [F] headed back to Jerusalem to find Ma and Dad and
[G] home.
But when he got there, the cupboard was bare. _
_ Except for an old black man with a fishing rod. _
He said, what are you going to be when you grow up? _
Jesus said, [C] God. _ _ _ _
Oh my God, what have [F] I got myself into?
I'm a human corkscrew.
All my wine is blood.
They're going to kill me, [G] Mama.
They don't like me, bud.
_ [C] _ _ _ So _ _ _ Jesus went to heaven. _ _ _
[F] He went there awful quick. _ _ _
[G] All them people killed him. _ _ _
He wasn't even sick.
[C] _ _ _
So come and gather around me, _ _ [F]
my contemporary peers,
_ _ [G] _
and I'll tell you all the story of Jesus _ for a million [C] years. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ They do.
_ [G] Because we all reside down the block inside of 23 _ [C] Skidoo. _ _ _ _
[G] We all reside down the block inside of 23 _ [C] Skidoo.
[F] _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Thank you. _ _ _