Chords with lyrics
Tuning: G C E A (G C E A) Verse 1: C Left hands hold the leashes and the right hands hold the torches G7 G And grandpas holding shotguns swing on porch swings hung on porches Am And the grandmas in their gardens plant more seeds to cut their losses G And the poachers with the pooches and the nooses preheat crosses C And the pooches see the grandpas and they bare their teeth and growl G7 G While their owners turn their noses up like they smell something foul Am And they fumble with their crosses and they start to mumble curses G And they plot ways to get grandpas off of porches into hearses C But the grandpas on the porches are just scarecrows holding toys G7 G And the grandmas in the gardens are papier-mâché decoys Am While the real grandmas and grandpas are with all the girls and boys G Marching downtown to the city hall to make a lot of noise saying
Chorus: C Saying Hands up don't shoot I can't breathe G7 G Black lives matter no justice no peace Am I know that we can overcome because I had a dream G A dream we tore this racist broken system apart at the seams Verse 2: C Sometimes it seems like we've reached the end of the road G7 G We've seen cops and judges sleep together wearing long white robes Am And they put their white hoods up try to take the black hoods down G And they don't plan on stopping til we're all in the ground C Til we're dead in the ground or we're incarcerated G7 G 'Cause prison's a big business form of enslavement Am Plantations that profit on black folks in cages G They'll break our backs and keep the wages C It's outrageous that there's no place we can feel safe in this nation G7 G Not in our cars not at the park not in subway stations Am Not at church the pool the store not asking for help G Not walking down the street so we've gotta scream and yell
Chorus: C Hands up don't shoot I can't breathe G7 G Black lives matter no justice no peace Am I know that we can overcome because I had a dream G We tore this racist broken system apart at the seams Verse 3: C You tweet me my own lyrics tell me to stop G7 G Letting a few bad apples ruin the bunch Am Don't minimize the fight comparing apples to cops G This is about the orchards poisoned roots not loose fruits in a box C Once the soils been spoiled the whole crop's corrupt G7 G That's why we need the grassroots working from the ground up Am And we look to black twitter to stay woke and get some truth G Instead of smiling cops and black mugshots from biased corporate news C 'Cause if you steal cigarillos or you sell loose cigarettes G7 G Or you forget your turn signal will they see your skin as a threat Am Will they kill you and then smear you and cover it up and lie G Will they call it "self defense" will they call it "suicide" Chorus: C Hands up don't shoot I can't breathe G7 G Black lives matter no justice no peace Am I know that we can overcome because I had a dream G A dream we tore this racist broken system apart at the seams Verse 4: C Decades of cultivation starts from tiny seeds that were once planted G G7 G G7 And we mustn't take the gardens that our elders grew for granted Am Though it is up to our youth how new rows sown are organized G Because movements can't keep moving if old and unsharpened eyes C Can't see the need to hear what those on the ground hafta say G G7 G G7 In Ferguson and Cleveland Staten island the east bay Am Charleston Phoenix Detroit Sanford Waller G Seattle Chicago Los Angeles Baltimore C Climbing flagpoles taking bridges locked together to the bart G G7 G G7 Speaking up about injustice in our music and our art Am Storming stages to ask candidates when they're gonna start G Really directly addressing issues breaking our hearts Chorus: C Hands up don't shoot I can't breathe G7 G Black lives matter no justice no peace Am I know that we can overcome because I had a dream G A dream we tore this racist broken system apart at the seams Chorus: C Hands up don't shoot I can't breathe G7 G Black lives matter no justice no peace Am I know that we can overcome because I had a dream G A dream we tore this racist broken system apart at the seams Verse 5: C And if the altars are torn down we'll just keep on placing flowers G G7 G G7 For the boy whose body was in the road for more than four hours Am We will honor the dead of every age and every gender G 'Cause we can't just have it be the brothers' names that we remember C Black boys with skateboards and black boys with hoodies G G7 G G7 And little black girls who are on the couch sleeping Am And all of the black trans women massacred G7 G G7 G Too many black folks killed and brutalized too little justice served C After the lynchings of our people by the murderous police G7 G G7 G Who stand like hunters 'round their prey gasping helpless in the street Am Feet from the teen sister they tackled, locked handcuffed in the car G Feet from her twelve year old brother dying... While no one did CPR C And we'll keep on planting flowers and we'll fight until the day G7 G G7 G That we don't have to pick them all to put them all on graves Am Yeah we'll keep planting flowers and we'll fight until the day G That we don't have to pick them all to put them all on graves Chorus: C Hands up don't shoot I can't breathe G7 G Black lives matter no justice no peace Am I know that we can overcome because I had a dream G A dream we tore this racist broken system apart at the seams
