James McMurtry - Stancliffs Lament

[Intro]
E G D C
E G D C

[Verse]
E G
Too old to work for wages
D C
No time left to kill
E G
Put your eggs in one basket
D C
Mind that basket don’t spill
E G
You’ve got to be successful
D C
Just to be all right
E G
Lest the old man’s ghost comes walking
D C
In the middle of the night

[Verse]
E G
Spend some years in the business
D C
Learn how the big boys play
E G
Marry your high school sweetheart
D C
Man don’t let her get away
E G
And if it don’t work out
D C
You can walk away without a stitch
E G
Wreckage in the rearview mirror
D C
Bouncing down a roadside ditch

[Chorus]
G E
It’s behind you now
D C B A G
It’s behind you now
G E D
The worst was over long ago
C B G E
Pat yourself on the back
E D C F
Stand up and take a bow

[Interlude]
G E D C

[Verse]
E G
There’s voices all around you
D C
They’re yelling Go Team
E G
You’re sitting at the top of the bleachers
D C
Staring at a laptop screen
E G
You can’t waste a minute
D C
You can’t waste a one
E G
The minutes are bought and paid for
D C
At least till the job gets done

[Interlude]
C B A

[Chorus]
G E
It’s behind you now
D C B A G
It’s behind you now
G E D
The worst was over long ago
C B G E
Pat yourself on the back
E D C F
Stand up and take a bow

[Interlude]
G E D C

[Verse]
E G
They’re holding all of your phone calls
D C
But it’s no relief
E G
You’re staring out the smoked glass window
D C
At the cars down on the cloverleaf
E G
And a picture of a kid with a ball glove
D C
smiling at the lens
E G
And a woman on a sailboat
D C
And all those years you just had to hope they’d bend
E G
Well you pushed so hard you bent so far
D C
That they won’t either one get straight again

[Chorus]
G E
It’s behind you now
D C B A G
It’s behind you now
G E D
The worst was over long ago
C B G E
Pat yourself on the back
E D C F
Stand up and take a bow

[Outro]
G E D C