The Dozens

	  		 

                 C 
I had a few more questions 
        G 
I never knew to ask 
                     F 
You were feeling downhearted 
                 C 
The last time we parted 

With the shock of the white hair 
                   G 
Life has changed a lot you know 
                F 
And I'm kind of scared of that 
                  C 
It bottoms out in seconds flat 


  
You said you had a good friend 
           G 
He died so needlessly 
                  F 
Knocked over by a garbage truck 
                               C 
They threw him down, then they picked him up 

And your son was back home again 
                        G 
Your little boy and his children 
                    F 
He's fighting off a mean disease 
                       C 
That's killing off his faculties 

  

G                C 
Tell me a little joke 
G              C Em   F 
Let's play the dozens 
                       C 
Say something about my mama 
                      G 
In a veiled quadrille round 
           C           
I'm just a white girl  
G           C Em  F 
From a segregated town 
                         C 
And I'm looking for some answers 
       G       C 
That I haven't found 



  
I remember Memphis 
            G 
Like it was yesterday 
                   F 
And a Ford station wagon 
                      C 
So full of us, it was dragging 

With your books in our grasping hands 
                       G 
We heard you speak, we made our plans 
                      F 
To hoist the flag and rule the world 
                 C 
All the hopes we had unfurled 



G                C 
Tell me a little joke 
G              C Em   F 
Let's play the dozens 
                       C 
Say something about my mama 
                      G 
In a veiled quadrille round 
           C           
I'm just a white girl  
G           C Em  F 
From a segregated town 
                         C 
And I'm looking for some answers 
       G       C 
That I haven't found 



Bridge: 
G            F         C 
I want to be just like you 
G              E        C 
I want to love first, I do 
     F 
Look people in the eye 
C 
Make them feel good 
F 
Then I'll make them think 
Dm        G 
Just like you would 


                    C 
Y'all were off on a night stroll 
                 G 
Down the capitol boulevards 
                      F 
You were emboldening another son 
              C 
Of this grand nation 

I would vote for you for president 
                             G 
But you're floating with the butterflies 
                 F 
Soaring with the seagulls 
                   C 
Or the eagle as he takes the skies 


  
Let's eat some democratic soup 
            G 
And Eastern Market cheese 
                      F 
Meals with you and Cornelia 
                      C 
Were my most precious memories 

I don't know what the hell to do 
                 G 
Please give me a little tap 
              F 
Tell me I can take it 
                           C 
That I won't bottom out in seconds flat