C

[Verse]

                                        F     C
It was winter time in Nashville down on Music City Row
                                   G                    F
I was lookin' for a place to get myself out of the cold
   G                    C                          Am    F
To warm the frozen feelin' that was eatin' at my soul
                                        G       C
And keep the chilly winds off my guitar
                         F                     C
My thirsty wanted whiskey but my hungry needed beans
                                                G                          F
But I guess it'd been a month of payday since I'd heard that eagle scream
      G                       C                       Am       F
So with a stomach full of empty and a pocket full of dreams
                  G                  C     Am
I left my pride and stepped inside a bar
                                 F        Dm
Actually I guess you'd call it a tavern
                                 G                           C
Cigarette smoke to the ceiling sawdust on the floor friendly shadows



[Verse]

                                 F                      C
I saw that there was just an old man sittin' at the bar
                                       G                  F
In the mirror I could see him checkin' me and my guitar
       G                C                 Am    F
He said come up here boy show us what you are
                       G             C
I said I'm dry he bought me a beer
                           F                   C
He nodded at my guitar said it's a tough life ain't it I just looked at him
                             G                                             F      G7
And he said you ain't makin' any money are you? I said you been readin' my mail
        C                               Am
He just smiled and said let me see that guitar
                                F
I got somethin' you oughta hear
                G     C
then he laid it on me


[Chorus]


       C                                F
If you waste your time a talkin' to the people who don't listen
       C                                 G
To the things that you are sayin' who do you thinks gonna hear
       C                                 F
And if you should die explainin' how the things that they complain about
    C                                    G                C
are things they could be changing who do you thinks gonna care
           G                            F                     C
There were lots of other singers in the world turned deaf and blind
         F             C                  G
Who were crucified for what they tried to show
          C                                 F                 C
Now their voices have been scattered by the swirling winds of time
                           G               C
And the truth remains that no one wants to know


[Verse]

C
                              F                     C
Well the old man was a stranger but I'd've heard his song before
                                       G                           F
Back when failure had me locked out on the wrong side of the door
G                         C          Am            G
No one stood behind me but my shadow on the floor
F                                     G
And lonesome was more than a state of mind
C                                 F   C
You see the devil haunts a hungry man
                                                                                G
And if you don't want to join him well he's gotta figure out someway to beat him
            F                         G   C                          Am  F
And I ain't sayin' I beat the devil but I drink his beer for nothin'
                     G     C
And then I stole his song



[Chorus]


        C                            F
You can still hear me singin' to the people who don't listen
       C                               G
To the things that I am sayin' prayin' someone's gonna hear
                       C                F
And I guess I'll die explaining how the things that they complain about
    C                                    G               C
Are things they could be changin' hopin' someone's gonna care
      G                           F                C
I was born to be a singer and I'm bound to die the same
         F                C            G
But I've got to feed this hunger in my soul
     C                   F            C
If I never have a nickel I won't even die in shame
                            G                C       Am   F G C
'Cause I don't believe that someone wants to know