Standard (EADGBE)

Four and twenty years ago,

I come into this life

The song of a woman,

and a man who lived in strife

He was tired of being poor;

and he wasn't into selling door to door

And he worked like the devil to be more

A different kind of poverty now upsets me so

Night after sleepless night,

I walk the floor and I want to know;

why am I so alone?

Where is my woman, can I bring her home?

Have I driven her away?

Is she gone?

Morning comes to sunrise,

and I'm driven to my bed

I see that it is empty,

and there's devils in my head

I embrace the many colored beast,

I grow weary of the torment;

can there be no peace?

And I find myself just wishing that my life would soon decease