Bummer Chords

Lyrics & chords

[Intro 1]
[Am][D][Am][D]
[Am][D][Am]
[D]
[Am]
[C][D][E][D][Am]

[Verse 1]
[Am]His[D]
[Am][D][Am][D]
[C][D]
[E][D][Am]
[C]
[D][E][Esus4][A][Am]
[D][Am]
mama was a midnight woman
[C]His dad[Am]dy was a drifter drummer
[C]One[Am] night they put it together
Nine [Bm]months [C]later came the
[D]little black [E]bummer

[Verse 2]
[Esus4]He was a [E]laid back[Am]
lump in the cradle
[C]Chewing [Am]the paint chips
that fell from the ceiling
[C]Whe[Am]never he cried he
got a fist in his face
[Bm]So he le[C]arned not to[D] show
his [E]feeling[Esus4] s[E]
[Am]

[Verse 3]
He was a pig- tail puller in grammer school
[C]Left back [Am]twice by the seventh grade
[C]Sni[Am]ffing glue in Ju [D]nior Hig[Am]h
[Bm]And [C]the first one [D]in school to get l[E]aid

[Verse 4]
[Esus4]He was a [E]weed-
[Am]speed pusher at fifteen
[C]He [Am]was mainlining skag a year [D]later
[C]He'[Am]d started pimping
when they put him away
In [Bm]jail he [C]changed from a [D]junkie to a [E]hater

[Verse 5]
And [C]just like the man from
the precinct [Am]said:
[D]"Put him away,
you better kill him instead.
[Bb]A bummer like that is better of dead
[E]Someday they're gonna [F]have
to put [E]a bullet in [Am]his head."

[Verse 6]
[Am]
[D]They threw him bac[Am]k on the street,
he robbed an A & P
He [C]didn't [Am]blink at the buddy
that he shafted
[C]And [Am]just about the time they
would have caught him too
He [Bm]had t[C]he damn good for[D]tune
to [E]get drafted

[Interlude 1]
[E][Am]

[Verse 7]
He was A- [Am]One bait for Vietnam,
you see they needed more [D]bodies in a [Am]hurry
He was a cinch to train cause
all they had to do
[Bm]Was [C]to figure how [D]to funnel [E]his fury

[Verse 8]
[Esus4]They put [Am]him in a
[D]tank near [Am]the D M Z
To [C]catch [Am]the gooks slipping
over the border
They said his mis[D]sion was
[Am]to Search and Destroy
[Bm]And for [C]once he [D]followed
and [E]or [Esus4]der
[Am]

[Verse 9]
One sweat- soaked day
in the [Am]Yung- Po Valley
With [Am]the ground still steam
ing [E]from the rain
There was a bloody little battle
that didn't mean nothing
Ex[E]cept to the few that re[Am]mained

[Verse 10]
You see [Am]a couple hundred slants had
trapped the [Am]other five tanks
And had started to pick off the [E]crews
When he came on the [D]scene
and it [E]really did seem
This is [E]why he'd paid [Am]those dues
[E]It was something

[Verse 11]
[Am]like
a butcher going berserk
Or a sane man acting like [E]a fool
Or the bravest thing that
a man had ever done
Or a madman blowing [Am]his cool

[Verse 12]
Well [Am]he came on through like
a knife through butter
Or a scythe sweeping through the [E]grass
Or to say it like the man would
have said it himself:
"Just a big black bastard
kicking [Am]as s!"
[Bm]And

[Verse 13]
[C]just like the man from
[Am]the precinct said:
[D]"Put him away,
you better kill him instead.
[Bb]A bummer like that is better of dead
[E]Someday they're gonna [F]have to put
[E]a bullet [Am]in his head."

[Interlude 2]
[Am][D][Am]
[E]

[Verse 14]
When [Am]it was over
and the smoke had cleared
There [C]were a lot [Am]of V C bodies in the mud
And when the rescued men came
over [D]for [Am]the very first time
They [Bm]found [C]him smiling as he
[D]lay in his blood
[E]

[Verse 15]
[Esus4][E]
They [Am]picked up the pieces and
they stitched him back together
[C]He pulled [Am]through though they
thought he was [Am]a goner
An[C]d i[Am]t force them to give him
what they said they would
Six [Bm]purple [C]hearts and the
[D]Medal of [E]Honor
[Esus4][E][Am][D][Am]

[Verse 16]
Of course he slouched
as the chief white honkey said:
"Service beyond the call of duty"
But the first soft thought was passing
through his mind
[C]"My medal is [D]a Mother [E]of a
beauty!"
[Esus4][Am][D]

[Verse 17]
[Am]
He got a couple of jobs with
the ribbon on his chest
And though he tried he really
couldn't do 'em
There was only a couple of things
that he was really trained for
[Bm]And he f[C]ound himself d[D]rifting back t[E]o
[Esus4]'em[Am][Am]
[Am][Am]
[Am]Just about the time he was
ready to break
[Am]The V A stopped sending
him his [E]checks
Just a mat[E]ter of time 'cause
there [E]was no doubt
About [E]what he was going to do next

[Verse 18]
[Am]It ended[Am] up one night
in a grocery store
Gun in hand and nine cops at [E]the door
And when his last battle was [E]over
He lay crumpled and broken
on the [Am]floor[Bm]

[Verse 19]
And [C]just like the man from
[Am]the precinct said:
[D]"Put him away,
you better kill him instead.
A bum[Bb]mer like that is better of dead
[E]Someday they're gonna [F]have to put [E]a bul
[E]let in [Am]his head."

[Interlude 3]
[E][Am]

[Verse 20]
Well he'd [Am]breathed his last,
but ten minutes past
Be[C]fore they [Am]dared to enter the [Am]place
And when they flipped his
riddled body over they found
[Bm]His seco[C]nd smile froze[D]n on his f[E]ace

[Verse 21]
They [Am]found his gun where
he'd thrown [Am]it
[C]There was [Am]something else
clenched in his [Am]fist
And when [C]they [Am]pried his fingers open
they found the Medal of Honor
And the [Bm]Sergeant [C]said: "Wh[D]ere in
the [E]hell he get this?"
[E][Am]

[Verse 22]
There was a stew about
burying him in Arlington
So they shipped him in box to Fayette
And they kind of stashed him in
a grave in the county plot
The [C]kind we re[D]member
[E]to for[Esus4]get

[Verse 23]
And [Am]just like the man from
the precinct said:
[D]"Put him away,
you better kill him instead.
[Bb]A bummer like that is better of dead
[E]Someday they're gonna [F]have
to put [E]a bullet in [E]his head."

[Outro 1]
[Am]