The Way I Should - Written by Iris DeMent

Capo 4th Fret

[Intro]

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A cold wind against my shoulder woke me up in the middle of the night
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An autumn leaf was scraping against my window
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Like it was tryin' hard to get inside
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And then a ghost that I had met before he kept me up till dawn
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And everything I thought was right was suddenly all wrong
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He said "your score is looking pretty bad"
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Then he asked me what it was that I had to show

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So I went runnin' down a list of things
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Some were real, but on some of them I lied
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'Cause I felt I had to justify each breath that
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I'd been breathin' in this life
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Then I realized I was playing into someone else's rules
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Tryin' to keep my score up in a game I did not choose
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Then I looked that ghost straight in the eye and said
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"You'd better not be coming back by again"

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And it's true that I don't work near as hard
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As you tell me that I'm supposed to
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I don't run as fast as I could
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But I live just the way I want to
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And that's the way I should

[Instrumental]

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October's leaves were dancin' 'round
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Like angels dressed in robes of red and gold
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But November's come and gone now
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And they're lyin' in the gutter out along the road
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They're gonna make their way out to the ditch or someday to the sea
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But they'll get to where they're goin' without the help of you or me
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And if each life is just a grain of sand
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I'm tellin' you man, this grain of sand is mine

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                          CC Piano Chord 

And it's true that I don't work near as hard
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As you tell me that I'm supposed to
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                         CC Piano Chord 

I don't run as fast as I could
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But I live just the way I want to
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And that's the way I should
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But I live just the way I want to
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And that's the way I should

[Outro. Repeat To Fade]

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Chords:
C  = X32010
D  = XX0232
EmEm Piano Chord 
 = 022000
GG Piano Chord 
  = 320033


Transcribed by Jim Sparrow - 5th Feb 1998