D

[Verse 1]
D                                       C
Well they crowned me with thorns on the day I was born
       G                   D
By the light of a cold television
D                             C
And I remember the bars on his uniform
      G                         D
As he marched from the field of vision


D C G D


[Verse 2]
D                                 C
When he didn't come home,  it was just us alone
    G                      D
The brat and the widowed civilian
D                          C
Then one April night after Ma took her life
  G                        D
I fell down the street to oblivion


[Chorus 1]
      G             F              D
And I took what the dumpsters were giving
    G        F          D
And I did my best to survive
          G            F             D
'Cause I figured that life's for the living
               A
While you're alive
               D
While you're alive


[Verse 3]
D                         C
Bring out the gin and the small violins
      G                   D
I'm a raging success as a failure
D                                 C
And it's colder than hell in this cardboard hotel
        G                      D
Which I share with a chronic embezzler


[Verse 4]
D                         C
So I beat my retreat down Collister Street
   G              D
To one of my holy places
D                              C
And they tangled my wings with wire and string
        G                          D
But I'm spinning in a whirlpool of faces


[Chorus 2]
         G             F              D
And I'll take what the dumpsters are giving
    G          F       D
And I'll do my best to survive
         G                F              D
'Cause I still think that life's for the living
      G                F              Bb   G
Yes I still think that life's for the li---ving


[Instrumental Build]
Bb C D


[Singing comes back in]
D    C    G   D   (x4)


[Chorus 3]
         G             F            D
And I'll take what the dumpsters are giving
         G          F            D
And I'll pray every night to St. Giles
      G                F              D
But I still think that life's for the living
               A
At least for a while
               D
At least for a while

[Outro]
D C G