he Way I Should - Written by Iris DeMent
From The Album "The Way I Should" - Iris DeMent
=====================================================

Capo 4th Fret


[Intro]

C   D   G   G   C   D   G   G

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


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


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


[Instrumental]

C   D   G   C   C   D   G   G


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


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


[Outro. Repeat To Fade]

C   D   G   G


Chords:
C  = X32010
D  = XX0232
Em = 022000
G  = 320033



Transcribed by Jim Sparrow - 5th Feb 1998
Email: KidLoops@aol.com