The Hitter chords by Bruce Springsteen

3/4  | G / / | G / / | G / /| G / / |

G                               C        G
Come to the door, Ma, and unlock the chain
                                                  C
I was just passin' through and got caught in the rain
                                               G
There's nothin' I want, nothin' that you need say
                                          D         G
Just let me lie down for a while and I'll be on my way


           G                                    C        G
I was no more than a kid when you put me on the Southern Queen
                                             C
With the police on my back I fled to New Orleans
                                                G
I fought in the dockyards and with the money I made
                                  D             G
I knew the fight was my home and blood was my trade

G                            C         G
Baton Rouge, Poncitoula, and Lafayette town
                                                      C
Well they paid me their money, Ma, I knocked the men down
                                   G
I did what I did well it come easily
                                         D         G |
Restraint and mercy, Ma, were always strangers to me

HARP SOLO
| G | G | G | C |C | Em | Em | G | C | C | C | G | G | G | G


          G                          C             G
I fought champion Jack Thompson in a field full of mud
                                                               C
Rain poured through the tent to the canvas and mixed with our blood
                                                   G
In the twelfth I slipped my tongue over my broken jaw
                                                        C
I stood over him and pounded his bloody body into the floor
                                              G
Well the bell rang and rang and still I kept on
                                       D                G
'Till I felt my glove leather slip 'tween his skin and bone


          G                                    C           G
Then the women and the money came fast and the days I lost track
                                                       C
The women red, the money green, but the numbers were black
                                                            G
I fought for the men in their silk suits to lay down their bets
                             D           G
I took my good share, Ma, I have no regrets

                 G                           C          G
Then I took the fix at the state armory with big John McDowell
                                          C
From high in the rafters I watched myself fall
                                                            G
As he raised his arm my stomach twisted and the sky it went black
                                              D             G
I stuffed my bag with their good money and I never looked back


      C                                          G
Understand, in the end, Ma, every man plays the game
                                   D              G
If you know me one different then speak out his name
 C
Ma if my voice now you don't recognize
            G                      D              G
Then just open the door and look into your dark eyes
   C
I ask of you nothin', not a kiss not a smile,
      G                            D           G
Just open the door and let me lie down for a while

         G                              C         G
Now the gray rain's fallin' and my ring fightin's done
                                                    C
So in the work fields and alleys I take all who'll come
                                                      G
If you're a better man than me then just step to the line
                                       C
Show me your money and speak out your crime
                                                       G
Now there's nothin' I want, Ma, nothin' that you need say
                                          D         G
Just let me lie down for a while and I'll be on my way


     G
Tonight in the shipyard a man draws a circle in the dirt
                                        C
I move to the center and I take off my shirt
                                                                  G
I study him for the cuts, the scars, the pain, Man, nor time can erase
                              D            C    G
I move hard to the left and I strike to the face