Abrir tablatura
        
    
    

e|-----------------| 
B|-----------------| 
G|-----------------| 
D|-----------------| 
A|-------3---0-----| 
E|-0-0-3---3---3-0-| 

Intro: Am F C 

Verse 
C          Am       F 
He was almost blind 
                                C 
They say it happens when you've been punched to many times 
               Am    F 
His hands were stone 
                      C 
He was a bare-knuckle champion in an earlier life 
            Am           F 
It was hard not to stare 
                 C 
At his busted up nose and cauliflower ears 
         Am          F 
And he'd smile at me 
                     C                        G 
And say the toughest fighters have their souvenirs 


[Refrão]
 F 
How to carry on 
         C 
When the hardest punch is thrown 
F                                 C 
And take away the burden from our shoulders 

Verse 
         Am        F 
He lived next door 
                           C 
He'd sometimes get with my father and talk about life 
            Am       F 
And sit on the porch 
                  C 
Drinkin' beer and remembering happier times 
            Am    F 
And I was a child 
                  C 
And I was far too young to ever understand 
                        Am   F 
What it meant to have a son 
                       C              G 
Who'd been drafted and killed in Vietnam 


[Refrão]
F 
How to carry on 
         C 
When the hardest punch is thrown 
F                                 C 
And take away the burden from our shoulders 

Verse 
              Am  F 
My father and I 
                  C                
Tried to keep him company so his mind could rest 
            Am     F 
On Saturday nights 
                     C 
We'd huddle 'round a black and white TV set 
                     Am      F 
And we all stood and cheered 
                     C 
When Ali knocked out Foreman that night in Zaire 
               Am    F 
And later that night 
                   C                         G 
My father held his hand as he broke down and cried 


[Refrão]
F 
How to carry on 
         C 
When the hardest punch is thrown 
F                                 C 
And take away the burden from our shoulders 

Verse 
                   Am   F 
And there stands a wall 
                C 
In the clearing across from the national mall 
                  Am    F 
It's crowded with names 
                    C 
Of the thousands of children that never came home 
               Am   F 
I stood in the rain 
                   C 
Watching dozens of mourners stumbling by 
               Am   F 
When I saw his name 
                        C 
I felt the ghost of our fathers kneeling at my side