Rita Wrote A Letter chords by Paul Kelly

• Difficulty: Intermediate 💪

Key: C

🎸 Intro:

C/G   Dm7   C/G   Dm


🎸 Verse 1: 0:08
  C                         Dm
I really don't know how I'm talking
C                           Dm
Six feet down and under the clay
    C                 Dm
The laws of nature forbid it
          C                        Dm
But I was never good with rules anyway
    C                   Dm
The day I walked out of prison
  C                        Dm
I knew that I was still in stir
        C                     Dm7         Dm7
For the crime committed I was still doing time
           C                    Dm
Behind the walls between me and her

🎸 Chorus:  0:41
F              C
  Rita wrote a letter
  G                        D
I keep it with me every day
  F
Rita wrote a letter
    C                          G    G
And this is what she had to say
           F                C   C/E
She said
'Joe I'm really sorry
           G                           D
But me and Dan, our love is here to stay
         F
With the kids it's getting better
    C                          G     G
And now a little baby's on the way'


🎸 Verse 2: 1:13
            C                      Dm
We-ll, they took me back on at the restaurant
            C                        Dm
But the new cook there had stolen my game
     C                            Dm
They put me on the dishes and the pots and pans
      C                 Dm
I was happy being busy again
    C                Dm
And every night when I came home
        C/E                      Dm7
With my back and feet all aching sore
        C               Dm
I'd lay there in Mary's spare room
    C                     Dm
Tossing 'til the break of dawn


🎸 Chorus 2:  1:46
F                C
Oh, Rita wrote a letter
        G                              D
One you don't want to get from your wife
       F
When Rita writes a letter
    C                       G      G
The pen is sharper than the knife
           F                    C   C/E
She said, 'Joe, I gave you good chances
    G                         D
But half a year turned into two
          F
You could never hold your temper
        C                        G     G
And you always made it all about you'


🎸 Instrumental:  2:19
C     Dm7    Em    Ebm7
Dm7   G      Dm7   Gaug


🎸 Verse 3: 2:34
        C                             Dm7
Oh, the phone calls they started to dwindle
          C                         Dm7
Once they moved further up the coast
      C                           Dm7
Those silences that dragged on forever
           C                           Dm7
I couldn't find the words I needed the most,
C                          Dm7
  One day I went to see an old friend
      C                        Dm7
And I brought a little package home
    C                       Dm
For old times' sake sweet oblivion
         C                            Dm
But some things you shouldn't do alone


🎸 Chorus 3:  3:07
F                  C
Yeah, Rita wrote a letter
          G                        D
I'm still hugging it under the clay
  F
Rita wrote a letter
     C                               G     G
Deep down I know it's better this way
    G     F                   C
And maybe    she and Dan feel guilty
        G                              D
And the children sometimes cry at night
          F                  C
But I made my bed, I'm lying in it
                         G
And I know they're gonna be alright


🎸 Outro:  3:38
G    F              C
Yeah
Rita wrote a letter
F               C
  I will always love her
F               C
  Be the ghost above her
F            C
  Hover all around her
F                     C
  But Dan, I don’t forgive ya
   F                  C
Oh
I didn’t mean to say that
F                      C
  It’s just my mind it plays up
F                 C
  Multiplies each matter
F
(Fades away   )