Bird on the Wire
Original Written and Performed by Leonard Cohen
This Version
Jimmy Barnes and Troy Cassar Daley
From the Jimmy Barnes album: Double Happiness
Tabbed by magga1976
Capo 5th Fret
G D G C
Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir
G D G
I have tried in my way to be free
G D G C
Like a fish on a hook, like a knight from some old-fashioned book
G D G
I have saved all my ribbons for thee
C G
If I, if I have been unkind
Am D
I hope that you can let it go by
C G
If I, if I have been untrue,
Am D
I hope you know it was never to you.
G D G C
Like a baby stillborn, like a beast with his horn
G D G
I have torn everyone who reached out for me.
G D G C
But I swear by this song and by all that I have done wrong
G D G
I will make it all up to thee.
C G
I saw a young man leaning on his wooden crutch
Am D
He called out to me, "Don’t ask for so much."
C G
And a young woman leaning in her darkened door,
Am D
She cried out to me, "Why not ask for more?"
G D G C
Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir
G D C G
I have tried in my way to be free