Standard (EADGBE)

- x35553 or x32010

E - x79997 or 022100

Intro

I’m an ordinary man, nothing special, nothing grand

 I’ve had to work for everything I own

I never asked for a lot, I was happy with what I got

 Enough to keep my family and my home

 Now they say that times are hard and they’ve handed me my cards

 They say there’s not the work to go around

 And when the whistle blows, the gates will finally close

 Tonight they’re going to shut this factory down

 And they’ll tare it d-o-w-n

 Bridge . . .

I never missed a day, nor went on strike for better pay

 For 20 years I served them best I could

 Now with a handshake and a cheque it seems so easy to forget

 Loyalty through the bad times and through good

 The owner says he’s sad to see that things have got so bad

 But the captains of industry wont let him lose

He still drives a car and smokes his cigar

And still takes his family on a cruise, he’ll never lose

 Instrumental . . .

Now it seems to me such a cruel irony

 He’s richer now than ever he was before

Now my check is spent and I cant afford the rent

 There’s one law for the rich, one for the poor

 Every day I’ve tried to salvage some of my pride

 To find some work so’s I might pay my way

Oh but everywhere I go, the answers always no

There’s no work for anyone here today

 No work t-o---y

 Instrumental . . .

And so condemned I stand, just an ordinary man

 Like thousands beside me in the queue

I watch my darling wife trying to make the best of life

 And God knows what the kids are going to do

 Now that we are faced with this human waste

A generation cast aside

As long as I live, I never will forgive,

 You’ve stripped me of my dignity and pride, you stripped me bare

 You’ve stripped me bare, you’ve stripped me bare.

Instrumental

 Until End) . . . (x6)

20.08.09