There But For Fortune

Phil Ochs · Early Years [2000]

Show me a prison, show me a jail,

Show me a prisoner whose face has gone pale

And I'll show you a young man with so many reasons why

And there but for fortune, may go you or I.



Show me the alley, show me the train,

Show me a hobo who sleeps out in the rain,

And I'll show you a young man with so many reasons why

There but for fortune, may go you or I.



Show me the whiskey stains on the floor,

Show me the drunken man as he stumbles out the door,

And I'll show you a young man with so many reasons why

There but for fortune, may go you or I.



Show me the country where the bombs had to fall,

Show me the ruins of the buildings once so tall,

And I'll show you a young land with so many reasons why

There but for fortune, go you or I -- you and I.