The People Are Scratching Chords by Pete Seeger

The People Are Scratching by Pete Seeger

Chords

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Verse 1:
Am                            Dm
Come fill up your glasses and set yourselves down.
     E7                    Am
I'll tell you a story of somebody's town.
  C                         G7
It isn't too near and it's not far away.
C                          Am
It's not a place where I'd like to stay.
 
Chorus:
                Am7                     Dm
The people are scratching all over the street
             E7                     Am
Because the rabbits had nothing to eat.
 
Verse 2:
Am                         Dm
The winter came in with a cold icy blast.
     E7                       Am
It killed off the flowers and killed off the grass.
    C                         G7
The rabbits were starving because of the freeze.
     C                       Am
They started eating the bark off the trees.
Chorus:
                Am7                     Dm
The people are scratching all over the street
             E7                     Am
Because the rabbits had nothing to eat.
 
Verse 3:
Am                            Dm
The farmers said, "This sort of thing won't do.
     E7                    Am
Our trees will be dead when the rabbits get through.
  C                         G7
We'll have to poison the rabbits, it's clear;
C                          Am
Or we'll have no crops to harvest next year."
 
Chorus:
                Am7                     Dm
The people are scratching all over the street
             E7                     Am
Because the rabbits had nothing to eat.
 
Verse 4:
Am                            Dm
So they brought the poison and spread it around.
     E7                    Am
And soon dead rabbits began to be found.
  C                         G7
Dogs ate the rabbits and the farmers just said,
C                           Am
"We'll poison those rabbits 'til the last dog is dead."
 
Chorus:
                Am7                     Dm
The people are scratching all over the street
             E7                     Am
Because the rabbits had nothing to eat.
 
Verse 5:
Am                        Dm
Up in the sky there were meat-eating fowls.
     E7                       Am
The dead rabbits poisoned the hawks and the owls.
  C                         G7
Thousands of field mice the hawks used to chase
     C                        Am
Were multiplying all over the place.
 
Chorus:
                Am7                     Dm
The people are scratching all over the street
             E7                     Am
Because the rabbits had nothing to eat.
 
Verse 6:
Am                              Dm
The fields and the meadows were barren and brown.
     E7                      Am
The mice got hungry and they moved into town.
   C                        G7
The city folk all took the farmer's advice
C                          Am
And all of them started to poison the mice.
 
Chorus:
                Am7                     Dm
The people are scratching all over the street
             E7                     Am
Because the rabbits had nothing to eat.
 
Verse 7:
Am                              Dm
There were dead mice in all the apartments and flats.
     E7                      Am
The cats ate the mice and the mice killed the cats.
    C                         G7
The smell was awful and I'm glad to say
C                          Am
I wasn't the man hired to haul them away.
 
Chorus:
                Am7                     Dm
The people are scratching all over the street
             E7                     Am
Because the rabbits had nothing to eat.
 
Verse 8:
Am                           Dm
All through the country and all through the town
      E7               Am
There wasn't a dog or cat to be found.
    C                        G7
The fleas asked each other, "Where shall we stay "
C                              Am
They've been on the people from then 'til this day.
 
Chorus:
                Am7                     Dm
The people are scratching all over the street
             E7                     Am
Because the rabbits had nothing to eat.
 
Verse 9:
Am                            Dm
All you small creatures throughout this land
     E7                        Am
Stay clear of the man with the poisonous hand!
  C                       G7
A few bales of hay might keep you alive
C                              Am
But he'll pay more to kill you than let you survive.
 
Chorus:
                Am7                     Dm
The people are scratching all over the street
             E7                     Am
Because the rabbits had nothing to eat.

Song History

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