Emmylou Harris Lyrics
"Medley: It's A Hard Life Wherever You Go/Abraham M"

(Nancy Griffith)

I am a backseat driver from america
They drive to the left on falls road
And the man at the wheels name is Shamus
We pass a the child on a corner he knows.

And shamus says now what chance has that kid got
And I say from the back I don't know
He says there's barbed wire at all of these exits
There ain't no place in Belfast for that kid to go.

And it's a hard life, it's a hard life
It's a very hard life, it's a hard life wherever you go
And we poison our children with hatred
And the hard life is all that they know.

--- Instrumental ---

At the dairyline in Chicago
A fat man in front of me
He's calling black people trash to his children
He's the only trash here I see.

And I'm thinking this man wears a white hood
In the night when his children should sleep
But they'll slip to their windows and see him
They'll think that white hood's all they need.

And it's a hard life, it's a hard life
It's a very hard life, it's a hard life wherever you go
And we poison our children with hatred
And the hard life is all that they know.

--- Instrumental ---

I was a child of the sixties
When dreams could be held through tears
With Disney and Cronkite and Martin Luther
And I belived, I believed, I believed.

Now I'm a backseat driver from America
And I'm not at the wheel of control
And I am guilty, I am worn, I am the root of all evil
And I can't drive on the left side of the road.

And it's a hard life, it's a hard life
It's a very hard life, it's a hard life wherever you go
And we poison our children with hatred
And the hard life is all that they know.

And there ain't no place in this world for these kids to go
'Cause it's a hard life wherever you go...

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Abraham, Martin and John
(Richard Holler)

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham
Can you tell me where he's gone
He freed a lotta people but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he's gone.

Has anybody here seen my old friend Martin
Can you tell me where he's gone
He freed a lotta people but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he's gone.

Has anybody here seen my old friend John
Can you tell me where he's gone
He freed a lotta people but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he's gone.

Didn't you love the things they stood for
Didn't they try to find some good
In you and me and we'll be free
Someday soon it's gonna be one day.

Has anybody here seen my old friend Bobby
can you tell me where he's gone
I thought I saw him walking up over the hill
With Abraham and Martin and John...