It’s alright, Ma (I’m only bleeding)    (Listen to sample)

 

    Em            + G - A - Em (8x) - E

 

      Em

1. Darkness at the break of noon,

        A

    shadows even the silver spoon,

            Em

    the handmade blade, the child's balloon

        A

    eclipses both the sun and moon,

          C                                                                                Em  

    to understand you know too soon, there is no sense in trying.

 

+ G - A - Em (3x) - E ~

 

     Em

2. Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn,

      A

    suicide remarks are torn

                   Em

    from the fool's gold mouthpiece the hollow horn

                A

    plays wasted words proves to warn

            C                                              Em          + G - A - Em (3x) - E

    that he not busy being born is busy dying.

 

            Em

3. Temptation's page flies out the door,

            A

    you follow, find yourself at war,

               Em

    watch waterfalls of pity roar,

             A

    you feel to moan but unlike before,

                 C                                                              Em

    you discover that you'd just be one more person crying.

 

+ G - A - Em (3x) - E

 

 

 

 

 

 

                   A                       D       E                                A

    So don't fear when you hear a foreign sound to your ear,

     E     B7                          E                + G - A - E (8x) - E ~ ~

    it's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing. 

 

          Em

4. A question in your nerves is lit,

                    A

    yet you know there is no answer fit

        Em

    to satisfy insure you not to quit,

          A

    to keep it in your mind and not forget

              C                                                             Em       

    that it is not he or she or them or it that you belong to.

 

+ G - A - Em (3x) - E

 

                            A                          D                 E                           A

    Although the masters make the rules for the wise men and the fools,

     E          B7                           E             + G - A - E (3x) - E ~

    I’ve got nothing, Ma, to live up to.

 

            Em

5. For them that must obey authority

             A

    that they do not respect in any degree,

                Em

    who despise their jobs, their destiny,

                A

    speak jealously of them that are free,

      C

     do what they do, just to be nothing more

                                         Em          

    than something they invest in.

 

+ G - A - Em (5x)      + G - A - E       (Roger McGuinn)