C: 332010
F: x33210

A minor fingerpicking riff

E|------------------------------------------------------|
B|--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1------------------|
G|------2--------2--------2-----------------------------|
D|---2--------2--------2--------------------------------|
A|-0-------0---------0--------------2-------------------|
E|----------------------------0--3----------------------|

A minor alt riff (where he sings "again and again and again and..."


E|-----------------------------------|
B|-1--1--1--1--1--1------------------|
G|-----2-----------------------------|
D|--2--------------------------------|
A|0--------------2-------------------|
E|---------0--3----------------------|

[Verse 1]

Am riff
I’m talking Freddie Gray blues
Am riff
I’m talking what happened to you
C             F
You were just 25
C             F
When they ended your life
C             F
When “to serve & protect”
                  C             F
Meant break your leg, snap your neck
C                       F         G
Meant to kill you, to sever your spine
Dm                         Em
No matter what, there’s no good reason why

Am riff x2

[Verse 2]

Am riff
When I’m talking these killer cop blues
Am riff
I’m kinda talking my family to you
C                 F
See, my dad was a cop
C                 F
And his dad was a cop
C                 F
And my uncles were cops
C                 F
And my cousins were cops
C                F
I’m partly here because of cops
C                    F
And I love all those cops
C               F
And I know not every cop
C               F
Is a racist, murdering cop
             C              F        G
But this is bigger than the people I love
             Dm           Em        
The system’s broken - Not breaking - It’s done

Am riff x2

[Verse 3]

Am riff
I’m talking white privilege blues
Am riff
I’m talking confession to you
C                      F
I don’t know what it’s like
C                    F
To be afraid all my life
C                F
Looking over my shoulder
C                      F
Behind each officer, a coroner
C              F
Entrenched inequality
C             F
No access, no empathy
C                 F
Crushed in stacked decks
C               F
Institutions & death
C               F
This is not my reality
C                 F
I’m afforded the luxury
C               F
Of shaking my head
C                 F
I shut the screen, go to bed
C                  F          G
I can turn off what you never can
Dm                Em               Am alt riff x8
And watch it happen again and again (and again and again and again and again, and again)

Am riff
I’m talking Freddie Gray blues
Am riff
I’m talking Freddie Gray blues