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Its Alright Ma

Bob Dylan
Version1
90

Chords in this song

Strum
D-DU-UDU
 02003x (or -0 or -3)
  : . . . : . . .
|--1--/3-------1----|(2)--------------|-
|.-1--/3-------1----|-3---3-3-3-3-3--.|-
|--2--/4-------2----|-2---2-2-2-2-2---|-
|--0---0-------0----|-0---0-0-0-0-0---|-
|.-0---0-------0----|-0---0-0-0-0-0--.|-
|--0---0-------0----|-0---0-0-0-0-0---|-
Darkness  at the break of noon
Shadows  even the silver spoon
 The handmade  blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses  both the sun and moon
 To understand  you know too soon
 There is no sense in trying.
 Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
 Suicide remarks are torn
 From the fool's gold mouthpiece
 The hollow horn plays wasted words
 Proves to warn
 That he not busy being born
 Is busy dying.
 Temptation's page flies out the door
 You follow, find yourself at war
 Watch waterfalls of pity roar
 You feel to moan but unlike before
 You discover
 That you'd just be
 One more person crying.
 So don't fear  if you hear
 A foreign  sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma,  I'm only sighing.
 As some warn victory, some downfall
 Private reasons great or small
 Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
 To make all that should be killed to crawl
 While others say don't hate nothing at all
 Except hatred.
 Disillusioned words like bullets bark
 As human gods aim for their mark
 Made everything from toy guns that spark
 To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
 It's easy to see without looking too far
 That not much
 Is really sacred.
 While preachers preach of evil fates
 Teachers teach that knowledge waits
 Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
 Goodness hides behind its gates
 But even the president of the United States
 Sometimes must have
 To stand naked.
 An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
 It's only people's games that you got to dodge
 And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.
 Advertising signs that con you
 Into thinking you're the one
 That can do what's never been done
 That can win what's never been won
 Meantime life outside goes on
 All around you.
 You lose yourself, you reappear
 You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
 Alone you stand with nobody near
 When a trembling distant voice, unclear
 Startles your sleeping ears to hear
 That somebody thinks
 They really found you.
 A question in your nerves is lit
 Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
 Insure you not to quit
 To keep it in your mind and not fergit
 That it is not he or she or them or it
 That you belong to.
 Although the masters make the rules
 For the wise men and the fools
 I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.
 For them that must obey authority
 That they do not respect in any degree
 Who despise their jobs, their destinies
 Speak jealously of them that are free
 Cultivate their flowers to be
 Nothing more than something
 They invest in.
 While some on principles baptized
 To strict party platform ties
 Social clubs in drag disguise
 Outsiders they can freely criticize
 Tell nothing except who to idolize
 And then say God bless him.
 While one who sings with his tongue on fire
 Gargles in the rat race choir
 Bent out of shape from society's pliers
 Cares not to come up any higher
 But rather get you down in the hole
 That he's in.
 But I mean no harm nor put fault
 On anyone that lives in a vault
 But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.
 Old lady judges watch people in pairs
 Limited in sex, they dare
 To push fake morals, insult and stare
 While money doesn't talk, it swears
 Obscenity, who really cares Propaganda, all is phony.
 While them that defend what they cannot see
 With a killer's pride, security
 It blows the minds most bitterly
 For them that think death's honesty
 Won't fall upon them naturally
 Life sometimes
 Must get lonely.
 My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
 False gods, I scuff
 At pettiness which plays so rough
 Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
 Kick my legs to crash it off
 Say okay, I have had enough
 What else can you show me?
 And if my thought-dreams could be seen
 They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
 But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.

Source: Songsterr · Rights holder? Request removal.

Readable chord sheet for Its Alright Ma by Bob Dylan

[G/B]   02003x (or -0 or -3)
   :   .   .   .      :   .   .   .
|--1--/3-------1----|(2)--------------|-
|.-1--/3-------1----|-3---3-3-3-3-3--.|-
|--2--/4-------2----|-2---2-2-2-2-2---|-
|--0---0-------0----|-0---0-0-0-0-0---|-
|.-0---0-------0----|-0---0-0-0-0-0--.|-
|--0---0-------0----|-0---0-0-0-0-0---|-
[G/B]Darkness at the break of noon
[D]Shadows even the silver spoon
The [Csus2]handmade blade, the child's balloon
[G/B]Eclipses both the sun and moon
To [Bb6]understand you know too soon
There is no sense in [D]trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.
So don't [D]fear if you [A]hear
A [D]foreign sound to your [G/B]ear
[D]It's [A]alr[G/B]ight, [A]Ma, I'm only [D]sighing.
As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.
An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.
Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.
Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.
For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.
But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.
Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares Propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?
And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.

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