Key:
Introduction: A# F C Dm C A# F C
A# F
There ain't no reason things are this way
C Dm C
It's how they've always been and they intend to stay
A# F
I can't explain why we live this way
C
We do it every day
A# F
Preachers on the podiums speaking of saints
C Dm C
Prophets on the sidewalk begging for change
Am F
Old ladies laughing from the fire escape
C
Cursing my name
A# F
I got a basket full of lemons and they all taste the same
C Dm
A window and a pigeon with a broken wing
C A# F
You could spend your whole life working for something
C
Just to have it taken away
A# F
People walk around pushing back their debts
C Dm C
Wearing paychecks like necklaces and bracelets
A# F
Talking about nothing, not thinking 'bout death
C
Every little heartbeat, every little breath
A# F
People walk a tight rope on a razor's edge
C Dm C
Carrying their hurt and hatred and weapons
A# F
It could be a bomb, or a bullet, or a pen
C
Or thought, or a word, or a sentence
A# F
There ain't no reason things are this way
C Dm C
It's how they've always been and they intend to stay
A# F
I don't know why I say the things I say
C
But I say them anyway
Dm A#
But love will come, set me free
C Dm A#
Love will come, set me free, I do believe
C Dm A#
Love will come, set me free, I know it will
C Dm A# C
Love will come, set me free, yeah
A# F
Prison walls still standing tall
C Dm C
Some things never change at all
A# F
Keep on building prisons, gonna fill them all
C
Keep on building bombs, gonna drop them all
A# F
Working your fingers bare to the bone
C Dm C
Breaking your back, make you sell your soul
A# F
Like a lung, that's filled with coal
C
Suffocating slow
A# F
The wind blows wild and I may move
C Dm C
But politicians lie and I am not fooled
A# F
You don't need no reason or a three-piece suit
C
To argue the truth
A# F
The air on my skin and the world under my toes
C Dm C
Slavery stitched into the fabric of my clothes
A# F
Chaos and commotion wherever I go
C
Love I try to follow
Dm A# C
Love will come, set me free
C Dm A#
Love will come, set me free, I do believe
C Dm A#
Love will come, set me free, I know it will
C Dm A# C
Love will come, set me free, yeah
A# F
There ain't no reason things are this way
C Dm C
It's how they've always been and they intend to stay
A# F
I can't explain why we live this way
C
We do it every day