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Tis Of Thee

Ani DiFranco

RockEasy for beginners3 chords

How to play it

Fingering diagrams for the shapes in this song. × = don't play, ○ = open string.

G
D××
C×

Chords & lyrics

Chord names sit directly above the word where you change.

Text size
 
              
G                         D 
they caught the last poor man 
C 
on a poor man's vacation 
G                                    D 
they cuffed him and confiscated his stuff 
C 
they dragged his black ass down to the station 
G                                  D 
and said, ok, the streets are safe now 
C 
all your pretty white children can come out and see spot run 
G                              D 
and they came out of their houses 
C 
and they looked around 
C 
but they didn't see no one 
 
G                D  
my country 'tis of thee 
C 
to take swings at each other on the talkshow tv 
G                                   D 
why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun 
C 
cuz we'll never live long enough 
                             G                   D 
to undo everything they've done to you 
C 
undo everything they've done to you 
 
G              D     
above 96th street 
C 
they're handing out smallpox blankets so people don't freeze 
G                             D 
the old dogs have got a new trick 
C 
it's called criminalize the symptoms 
 
while you spread the disease 
 
G                          D 
and i hold on hard to something 
C 
between my teeth when i'm sleeping 
G                       C 
i wake up and my jaw aches 
C 
and the earth is full of earthquakes 
 
G                   D 
my country 'tis of thee 
C 
To take shots at each other on prime time tv 
G                                     D   
why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun 
C 
cuz we'll never live long enough 
G                                  D 
to undo everything they've done to you 
C 
undo everything they've done to you 
 
G                          D 
they caught the last poor man 
C 
flying away in a shiny red cape 
G                          D 
they took him down to the station 
C 
and they said, boy, you should've known better 
C 
than to try to escape 
G                      D 
i ran away with the circus 
C 
cuz there's still some honest work left for bearded ladies 
G                                     D 
it?s not the same going from town to town 
C 
since they put everyone in jail 
C 
except the Cleavers and the Bradys 
 
 
G                    D 
my country 'tis of thee 
C 
to take swings at each other on the talk show  t.v. 
G                                 D     
why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun 
C 
cuz we'll never live long enough 
G                           D 
to undo everything they've done to you 
C 
undo everything they've done to you 
          
 

Details

Rating

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Chord set

G · D · C

Practice tip

Loop the first two chords slowly until the change is clean, then add the rest.