Abraham, Martin And John Lyrics - Emmylou Harris

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 

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At the dairy-line 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 believed, I believed, I believed 

Photos 

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.