Rich Man’s War
By Steve Earle
rmofle at satx.rr.com
10/17/2004
Capo 2
D A D
Jimmy joined the army ‘cause he had no place to go
D Em
There ain’t nobody hirin’ ‘round here since all the jobs went down to Mexico
G A
Reckoned that he’d learn himself a trade maybe see the world
G A
Move to the city someday and marry a black haired girl
G D
Somebody somewhere had another plan
G D
Now he’s got a rifle in his hand
D A Bm G
Rollin’ into Baghdad wonderin’ how he got this far
D A D
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war
Bobby had an eagle and a flag tattooed on his arm
Red white and blue to the bone when he landed in Kandahar
Left behind a pretty young wife and a baby girl
A stack of overdue bills and went off to save the world
Been a year now and he’s still there
Chasin’ ghosts in the thin dry air
Meanwhile back at home the finance company took his car
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war
Bride:
Bm G
When will we ever learn
D A
When will we ever see
Bm G
We stand up and take our turn
D A
And tellin’ ourselves we’re free
Ali was the second son of a second son
Grew up in Gaza throwing bottles and rocks when the tanks would come
Ain’t nothin’ else to do around here just a game children play
Somethin’ ‘bout livin’ in fear all your life makes you hard that way
He answered when he got the call
Wrapped himself in death and praised Allah
A fat man in a new Mercedes drove him to the door
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war