Maintaining Law And Order chords by Phil Ochs

Chords with lyrics

Capo I

Verse 1:

D MajorD                      B minorBm
The policemen of the city wear a uniform of blue
F# minorF#m            A augmentedA
walkin' within the city's border
D MajorD
protecting all the people
              B minorBm
that's what they're paid to do,
F# minorF#m     A augmentedA    D MajorD
maintaining law and order.

Verse 2:

D MajorD
You see them walkin' down the street
          B minorBm
swingin' around the club
F# minorF#m               A augmentedA
pistols hangin' loosely from the holster
D MajorD
and the something of the soldier
            B minorBm
in the shedding of the blood
F# minorF#m     A augmentedA    D MajorD
maintaining law and order.

Verse 3:
D MajorD
And at the police academy
             B minorBm
they're trainin' for the day
     F# minorF#m            A augmentedA
where the rookies are training to be colder
D MajorD                       B minorBm
learning to be as hard as the hard world they face
F# minorF#m     A augmentedA    D MajorD
maintaining law and order.

Verse 4:

D MajorD
Now in many Southern cities
               B minorBm
they don't need to use their hands
     F# minorF#m            A augmentedA
oh, they throw them roughly in the corner
  D MajorD                        B minorBm
and tell the other prisoners "Here's a nigger-lovin' man"
   F# minorF#m     A augmentedA    D MajorD
while maintaining law and order.

Verse 5:

D MajorD
Now I'll be the first to tell you
             B minorBm
that their pay is not the best
     F# minorF#m               A augmentedA
for they all have a wife and must support her
    D MajorD                     B minorBm
so the gamblers and the prostitutes pay them the rest
      F# minorF#m   A augmentedA    D MajorD
while they maintain law and order.

Verse 6:

D MajorD
These are bitter words of warning
            B minorBm
and they have to leave you sad
    F# minorF#m         A augmentedA
cause a cop may save my life tomorrow
D MajorD                              B minorBm
but it's really for the good man that I'm singing about the bad
    F# minorF#m     A augmentedA    D MajorD
who are maintaining law and order.

Verse 7:

D MajorD
Now they ask for greater power
            B minorBm
from the bottom to the top
   F# minorF#m          A augmentedA
their demands daily growing bolder
  D MajorD                      B minorBm
but who maintain the police and who maintain the cops
      F# minorF#m   A augmentedA      D MajorD