A Reason For It All chords by Eric Bogle

Tuning: Standard (E A D G B E)

Verse 1:
G                Am
Summer's smiling on the city
D              G
Another lovely day in Sydney
                 Am
Sunshine pouring down like honey
     D           G
In a golden waterfall
                      Am
But in the room where Clare is dying
D                     G
No sunshine sends the shadows flying
                   Am
No children gather round her crying
D                         G
There's no one there at all
Am
Except perhaps for the man who sees
    D               G
Each little sparrow fall

Chorus Tenor:
G
Don't talk to me about lonely souls crying
D                     G
Dark quiet rooms with old people dying
        C               D                        G
I don't want to hear, I don't want to hear it at all

Tired old people die alone every day
D                        G
Don't blame me, I didn't make it that way
            C                   D                   G
That's just how it is, don't look for a reason at all


Verse 2:
G              Am
Winter weeping on the city
D               G
A wet and windy day in Sydney
                  Am
Raindrops rolling fat and heavy
D                   G
Down Clare's window pane
                     Am
The raindrops on the tin roof beating
D                    G
Disturbs the rats as they are feeding
                      Am
Back to the nest they all go creeping
D                   G
Leaving Clare alone again
     Am
It's been a long and lonely time
      D                    G
Since Clare could hear the rain


Tenor Chorus:
G
Don't talk to me about the meaning of life
D                          G
Don't sing your songs that cut like a knife
        C               D                        G
I don't want to hear, I don't want to hear it at all

Lonely old people ain't my concern
D                     G
From dust we come, to dust we return
           C             D                             G
And that's all there is, don't look for a reason in it all


Verse 3:
G                    Am
Springtime's come at last to Sydney
D                    G
Flowers are blooming in the city
                  Am
In all their multicoloured glory
D                      G
They rise to greet the year
            Am
Memories in shame recalling
D                G
Footsteps on the front porch falling
                   Am
Voices through the window calling
D            G
"Is anybody there?"
Am
Clare Campbell's lost and lonely soul
     D                   G
Is a long, long way from here


Tenor Chorus:
G
Don't talk to me about life's seasons
D                               G
Don't ask me for answers, don't ask me for reasons
        C               D                        G
I don't want to hear, I don't want to hear it at all

From the moment we're born, we start to die
D                        G
A man can go crazy if he keeps asking why
            C                D                      G
That's just how it is, don't look for a reason at all


Baritone Chorus:
      G
Can't you understand what I'm trying to say
      D                     G
There must an answer, there must be a way
             C               D                           G
To make some sense of it, to try to find a reason for it all

We are not born just so we can die
D                           G
There must be an answer and we've got to try
        C                    D                             G
To make some sense of it; to try to find a reason for it all


Baritone Chorus:(Sung simultaneously as the last Tenor Chorus is sung)
      G
Can't you understand what I'm trying to say
      D                     G
There must an answer, there must be a way
             C               D                           G
To make some sense of it, to try to find a reason for it all

We are not born just so we can die
D                           G
There must be an answer and we've got to try
        C                    D                             G
To make some sense of it; to try to find a reason for it all

Ending:
            C                D                      G
That's just how it is, don't look for a reason at all
          C                 D                       G
Ah, there must a way, there must be reason for it all