INTRO:
B7  B7  B7  B7

VERSE:
       B7                             B7
I was told not long ago that I can't talk the way I do
 B7                                      B7
Singers shouldn't share their current affairs or worldly views
        E                                      E
Sayin' somethin' off the wall just might bend folks outta shape
              B7                                  B7
Hard workin' people spend their paychecks to show up and escape
          A                     E
So put a plug in what you think
 E                B7   B7
Man, shut up and sing


VERSE:
   B7                            B7
So I pulled out my guitar and I gave it a strum
        B7                             B7
And I thought about the way I'd lay it out there if one
      E                             E
Lone song was all I had to make it all make half sense
             B7                                 B7
To put some heart back on the forefront, collective consciousness
          A
Can't be dead as my six strings
   E                             B7
I wondered, would I shut up and sing?
        B7
Then it hit me


CHORUS:
             A                         A
Shut up and sing, "Lord have mеrcy on all us earthly fools"
         B7                         B7
There's poison in our rhеtoric and bullets in our schools
         A                            A
So I'll sing, "What the hell is going on around here?"
                  B7                                 B7
Let's take these blinders off our eyes and pull the cotton from our ears
           D                                   A
Until somebody says somethin' that means somethin', I'll
             B7  B7
Shut up and sing


VERSE:
 B7                              B7
Sometimes sayin' nothin' says it all and then some more
    B7                              B7
Conjecture causes bull and fuels unnecessary wars
 E                                E
Poets know hiding the truth somewhere between the lines somehow
 B7                           B7
Makes it seem worth more for those looking to find
      A                                 E
Some answers to the troubles this life brings
             B7  B7
Shut up and sing


CHORUS:
             A                             A
Shut up and sing, "Lord forgive us for we know not what we do"
          B7                                 B7
They're shouting from the mountains down to south border towns too
             A                            A
Shut up and sing, "What the hell is going on around here?"
                  B7                                 B7
Let's take these blinders off our eyes and pull the cotton from our ears
          D                                   A
Till somebody says somethin' that means something, I'll
             B7 B7
Shut up and sing


INSTRUMENTAL:
B7  B7  B7  B7  E  E  B7  B7  D  A  B7  B7


VERSE:
 B7                             B7
Songs got ways of going places folks have never been
     B7                               B7
From one side of the world round and round and back again
 E                     E
Universal unity ain't realistic, no, oh
    B7                                 B7
But who says we can't hum one for the hell of it all?
           A                            E
You never know how true a melody might ring till
                 B7   N.C.
You shut up and sing

 B7   B7   B7   B7
Hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm