Abraham, Martin And John - Emmylou Harris

(Richard Holler)

I am a backseat driver from America 
They drive to the left on Falls Road 
And the man at the wheelsname 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 

At the dairyline 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 belived, I believed, I believed 

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.