A Man Needs a Vocation Chords

Lyrics & chords

[Intro 1]
[G][D]

[Verse 1]
The trip was pretty [D]bleak
But it was cheaper than the train
Disem[F#m]barked during a summer storm
Got hammered by the rain
As he [G]hobbled down the frontage road
With [Csus2]a footlocker and in
a fair amount [D]of pain

[Verse 2]
[D]
From a payphone at a the station
He called on some old friends
And [F#m]a guy that he'd played football with
Said he could take him in
On [G]a blanket on a mattress
In the base[Csus2]ment by[C]
the [Csus2]furnace
[C]He was [D]home again

[Verse 3]
But [G]he'd been gone for long
enough that
[D]Something wasn't lining up
This [Em]distance didn't exist before
[D]The plexiglass at liquor stores.
The [C]wretches in the parking lots
[Csus2]The torches i[G]n the smoking
shops
[Am]Everything felt twice as hot to him
[D]

[Verse 4]
Started ringing up the register
At a Sinclair down the street
Started [F#m]saving up and bought a truck
Started sleeping in the backseat
In the morn[G]ing when he wakes up
There's a pamph[C]let on the windshield

[Verse 5]
With [Bm]a cartoon of a shepherd
Tending to some cartoon sheep
It said [D]we'll walk you through
the paperwork
The course takes twenty weeks
With [G]a military discount
The di[C]vinity comes cheaply and [D]discreetly

[Verse 6]
[D]In [G]classrooms in an office park
Fluor[D]escent lights against the dark
[Em]Long rows of unsteady desks
He [D]memorized the sacred texts
That [C]earned him the certificate
That [G]led him a place to live
And [Am]though he didn't believe in it
He was [C]quite convinced

[Interlude 1]
A man needs a vocation
[G]

[Verse 7]
So [C]he drove out to Fishers[G]ville
Without saying goodbye
There was [C]never really anything to [G]say
The [C]guys that he played football with
Were [Em]all starting to die
And [Am]it still felt pretty pointless
when he prayed
[C][D]

[Verse 8]
[G]He'd been there for long enough
To [D]know the savior won't show up
[Em]The distance between everything
And [D]Daniel back in Washington
[C]The way it hung above his head
The [G]wretches in the tanning beds
[Am]Turning up the torch again
[G]Virginia with your rolling hills
[D]The cities with their easy thrills
[Em]The clinics with their sliding scales
[D]Scratching out prescriptions
They said [C]you can't help somebody else
Un[Em]til you take care of yourself
He [Am]never really fell for it
But he was [C]quite convinced

[Outro 1]
A man needs a vocation
[G]