Ballad of a Lonely Man
Capo 1
This is an acoustic version that Ness often played often during radio station interviews
during his ?Cheating At Solitaire? tour.Capo the 1st fret, and this chord chart is 100% accurate
The trick to playing this song acoustically is to capture Mike's (very fast) version of
Johnny Cash's strumming style
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VERSE 1
G C G
I'm young and I'm strong,
D C G
I've got this God forsaken world by the balls.
D C G
I've got a one-way ticket to freedom
D G
Ain't no one now, gonna take it from me
VERSE 2
G C G
I was a soldier, age twenty-one
D C G
In a war not sure what I was fighting for
D C G
And yet I turned from a boy to a man there
D G
Goodbye to innocence, and a sweet sixteen
NOTE:
To get a smooth flow entering the chorus, walk down from G to Em:
Strum the G chord, then Pick 6th String 3rd Fret, then 6th String 2nd Fret, then strum
the Em chord.)
CHORUS:
Em C G D
My whole life, I could not arrange
Em C G D
My wicked ways, I could never change
Em C D G
Don't try, don't try now, to understand
D G
This is the ballad, of a lonely man
VERSE 3
G C G
Close to me, is a photograph
D C G
Of a family left far, far behind
D C G
Ah, once I had love, it slipped away from
D G
I searched a lifetime, but I could not find
VERSE 4
G
In a hospital bed, I'm violently ill
Just one more drink nurse I swear to God
I've got my St. Anthony and my whiskey
Yes I'm a veteran of three foreign wars.
CHORUS
Play the chorus once, then, after ?Don?t try, don?t try now, to understand.?
repeat last line of chorus three more times:
G D G
This is the ballad, of a lonely man,
G D G
This is ballad, of a lonely man,
G D G
This is the ballad, of a lone-ly man
G-D-G Finish with a hard strum on G.
Enjoy.
Lowell
