nanci griffith
it's a hard life wherever you go
I am a backseat driver from America They drive to the left on Falls Road The man at the wheel's name is Seamus We pass a child on the corner he knows And Seamus 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 And there ain't no place in Belfast for that kid To go."  [Chorus:] It's a hard life  It's a hard life  It's a very hard life  It's a hard life wherever you go  If we poison our children with hatred  Then, the hard life is all that they'll know  And there ain't no place in (Belfast) for  These kids to go   (Chicago)   (This world)  A cafeteria line in Chicago The fat man in front of me Is calling black people trash to his children 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 slip to their window and they see him And they think that white hood's all they need  [Chorus]  I was a child in the sixties Dreams could be held through TV With Disney, and Cronkite, and Martin Luther Oh, I believed, I believed, I believed Now, I am the backseat driver from America I am not at the wheel of control I am guilty, I am war, I am the root of all evil Lord, and I can't drive on the left side of the road  [Chorus]