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Cover art for There But for Fortune lyrics by Josh Joplin

Josh Joplin

There But for Fortune

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There But for Fortune Lyrics

Show me the prison
Show me the jail
Show me the prisoner
Whose life has grown stale
And I'll show you a young man
With so many reasons why
There but for fortune
Goes you or I

Show me the alley
Show me the train
Show me the homeless
Who are left out in the rain
And I'll show you a young man
With so many reasons why
There but for fortune
Goes you or I

Show me the whiskey
Stains on the floor
Show me the drunken man
Who stumbles out the door
And I'll show you a young man
With so many reasons why
There but for fortune
Goes you or I

Show me the country
Where the bombs had to fall
Show me the ruins
Of the cities once so tall
And I'll show you a young land
With so many reasons why
There but for fortune
Goes you or I
Or I

Submitted by

eamon On Aug 27, 2005

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Keep it true to the song

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Punctuation counts (but vibe-editing doesn’t)

Correct typos? Yes. Re-punctuating a whole verse because it ‘looks better’? Probably not. Keep capitalization and punctuation close to the official source.

Don’t mix versions

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Let the lyrics be lyrics

This isn’t the place for interpretations, memories, stories, or trivia — that’s what comments are for. Keep metadata, translations, and bracketed stage directions out unless they’re officially part of the song.

Edit lightly

If two lines are wrong… fix the two lines. No need to bulldoze the whole page. Think ‘surgical,’ not ‘remix.’

When in doubt, ask the crowd

Not sure what they’re singing in that fuzzy bridge? Drop a question in the comments and let the music nerds swarm. Someone always knows.

Eamon

Submitter

2005-08-27 18:58:06

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