Emmylou Harris Abraham Martin And John lyrics

(Richard Holler)

I am a backseat driver from America
They drive to the left on Falls Road
And the man at the wheels name is Shamus
We pass a the child on a corner he knows
And Shamus says `now what chance has that kid got`
And I say from the back `I don`t know`

He says `there`s barbed wire at all of these exits`
There ain`t no place in Belfast for that kid to go
And it`s a hard life, it`s a hard life
It`s a very hard life
It`s a hard life wherever you go
And we poison our children with hatred
And the hard life is all that they know

At the dairyline in Chicago
A fat man in front of me
He`s calling black people trash to his children
And he`s the only trash here I see
And I`m thinking this man wears a white hood
In the night when his children should sleep
But they`ll slip to their windows and see him
They`ll think that white hood`s all they need

And it`s a hard life, it`s a hard life
It`s a very hard life
It`s a hard life wherever you go
And if we poison our children with hatred
Then the hard life is all that they know

I was a child of the sixties
When dreams could be held through tears
With Disney and Cronkite and Martin Luther
And I belived, I believed, I believed

Now I`m a backseat driver from America
And I`m not at the wheel of control
And I am guilty, I am worn, I am the root of all evil
And I can`t drive on the left side of the road

And it`s a hard life, it`s a hard life
It`s a very hard life
It`s a hard life wherever you go
And if we poison our children with hatred
Then the hard life is all that they`ll know

And there ain`t no place in this world for these kids to go
Cause it`s a hard life wherever you go

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham,
Can you tell me where he`s gone?
He freed a lotta people, but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he`s gone.

Has anybody here seen my old friend Martin,
Can you tell me where he`s gone?
He freed a lotta people, but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he`s gone.

Has anybody here seen my old friend John,
Can you tell me where he`s gone?
He freed a lotta people, but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he`s gone.

Didn`t you love the things they stood for?
Didn`t they try to find some good in you and me?
And we`ll be free
Someday soon it`s gonna be one day

Has anybody here seen my old friend Bobby,
Can you tell me where he`s gone?
I thought I saw him walkin` up over the hill
With Abraham and Martin and John.