Standard (EADGBE)

She might have been a nice girl

 If she hadn't had a draggy mother

 She might have been a good chick

 If she hadn't had a rotten father

 She might have played the right hunch

 If she hadn't been so narrow-minded

 She might have had a whole bunch

 If she hadn't been so far behind it

 Oh does it hurt when you know you can't play it the way that your beau knows

 Oh does it hurt when you know you can't say it the way that your beau knows

 And you know that that's the way that the show goes

 And you know it really has to go on.

 She drank the army's red wine

 But she never found a moment's pleasure

 She smelled the salty sea brine

 But she never found the buried treasure

 She might have played the chords right

 But the song was never meant for singing

 She might have really broke loose

 But she never made it past the clinging

 I can see that it hurts when you know you can't play it the way that your beau knows

 I can see that it hurts when you know you can't say it the way that your beau knows

 And you know that that's the way that the show goes

 And you know it really has to go on.

Outro