STRAIGHT TIME Bruce Springsteen (from the album "The Ghost of Tom Joad") Notes: The song has a fingerpicking pattern that's a little different, but this pattern also varies at times. Listen to the song to pick up on the nuances, but this should serve as a good roadmap. Springsteen tunes the 6th string to a Let the notes ring throughout. Picking Pattern and Chord Formations: Got out of prison back in '86, and I found a wife. Walked the clean and narrow, Just trying to stay out and stay alive. Got a job at the rendering plant; it ain't gonna make me rich. In the darkness before dinner comes Sometimes I can feel the itch I got a cold mind to go tripping 'cross that thin line. I'm sick of doing straight time. My uncle's at the evening table, makes his living running hot cars. Slips me a hundred dollar bill, says "Charlie, you best remember who your friends are." Got a cold mind to go tripping 'cross that thin line. I ain't making straight time. Eight years in it feels like you're gonna die. But you get used to anything. Sooner or later it just becomes your life. Kitchen floor in the evening tossin' my little babies high. Mary's smiling, but she's watching me out of the corner of her eye. Seems you can't get any more than half free. I step out onto the front porch and suck the cold air deep inside of me. Got a cold mind to go tripping 'cross that thin line. I'm sick of doin' straight time. In the basement, huntin' gun and a hacksaw. Sip a beer, and thirteen inches of barrel drop to the floor. Come home in the evening, can't get the smell from my hands Lay my head down on the pillow And go driftin' off into foreign lands. ************************************************************** Corrections are more than welcome. Enjoy! Jason Groce - jgroce@mail.utexas.edu Playwriting, Department of Theatre and Dance **************************************************************
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