Jackson Browne – Lives In The Balance (Guitar Acoustic)

Key
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Versions (2)

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Chords

This is the more updated solo acoustic version that Jackson plays these days. He uses standard open tuning and B7 The main riff is played on the bottom four strings and repeated throughout the verses. Finish on the last Em without the riff, vocals held for all four iterations.
e|------------|
B|------------|
G|---0---0--0-|
D|--2---2-----|
A|-----0------|
E|-0-------3--|
[Intro]
Em Em Em Em
4x Riff
[Verse]
         Em                       Em
Ive been waiting for something to happen

      Em                       Em
For a week or a month or a year

         Em                         Em
With the blood in the ink of the headlines

         Em                       Em
And the sound of the crowd in my ear

          Em                       Em
You might ask what it takes to remember

         Em                            Em
When you know that you've seen it before

        Em                     Em
Where a government lies to a people

      Em                       Em
And a country is drifting to war

              C             Em
And theres a shadow on the faces

       C                Em
Of the men who send the guns

       C                       G
To the wars that are fought in places

            D                 B7
Where their business interest runs
[Verse]
       Em                       Em
On the radio talk shows and the t.v.

         Em                     Em
You hear one thing again and again

        Em                Em
How the u.s.a. stands for freedom

       Em                   Em
And we come to the aid of a friend

    Em                       Em
But who are the ones that we call our friends--

      C                         B7
These governments killing their own?

       Em                      Em
Or the people who finally cant take any more

         C                       B7
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
[Chorus]
          Em    D            Em    D
There are lives in the balance  (There are)

          Em     D            Em    D
There are people under fire      (There are)

          Em       D              Em    D
There are children at the cannons

             C                   C
And there is blood on the wire
[Interlude] B7 B7 C C B7 B7 Em Em Em Em [Pre-chorus]
         C             Em
Theres a shadow on the faces

       C               Em
Of the men who fan the flames

       C                         G
Of the wars that are fought in places

              D            B7
Where we cant even say the names
[Verse]
     Em                        Em
They sell us the president the same way

     Em                          Em
They sell us our clothes and our cars

     Em                       Em
They sell us every thing from youth to religion

    Em                           Em
The same time they sell us our wars

          Em                      Em
I want to know who the men in the shadows are

          C                         G
I want to hear somebody asking them why

            Em N.C.
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are

            C                 B7
But they're never the ones to fight or to die
[Chorus]
          Em    D            Em    D
There are lives in the balance  (There are)

          Em     D            Em    D
There are people under fire   (There are)

          Em       D              Em    D
There are children at the cannons

             C                   C
And there is blood on the wire
[Interlude] B7 B7 C C B7 B7 [Outro]
          Em                  Em
There are lives in the balance

          Em
There are people under fire

          Em
There are children at the cannons

      Em  Em  Em  Em
There are........................................