G

[Verse 1]
G
I can't sell my mama short on loving me
G
I guess that's why she let me go so far
C
Mama try to stopped me short of stealing
G
I guess that's why I had to steal that car
G
She told me not to smoke it
                          C
But I did and it took me far away
C            D
And I turned out to be
                             G
The only hell my mama ever raised

G
Well, I rolled into Atlanta,
G
stolen tags and almost out of gas
C
I had to get some money,
C
and lately I'd learned how to get it fast
G
Those neon lights were calling me
G                               C
and somehow I just had to get downtown
C                       D
So I reached into the glove box,
                           G
another liquor store went down


[Chorus]
 G                                                          C
And I'd sing, "Precious memories, take me back to the good ol' days"
               D                             G
Let me hear my mama singing, "Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me"
G                                                         C
She tried to turn me on to Jesus, but I turned on to the Devil's ways
                    D                               G
And I turned out to be the only hell my mama ever raised


[Verse 2]
G
Well, they put them handcuffs on me,
G
Lord, how I fought to resist
C
But agent clamped 'em tighter,
C
'til that metal bit into my wrist
G
They took my belt and my billfold,
G
my fingerprints and the profile of my face
C                     D                               G
And then they locked away the only hell my mama ever raised


[Chorus]
 G                                                         C
And I'd sing, "Precious memories, take me back to the good ol' days"
                 D                            G
Let me hear my mama singing, "Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me"
G                                                          C
She tried to turn me on to Jesus, but I turned on to the Devil's ways
                    D                               G
And I turned out to be the only hell my mama ever raised


[Instrumental]

G C G
C D G
As verse chords

[Chorus]
G                                                           C
And I'd sing, "Precious memories, take me back to the good ol' days"
                 D                            G
Let me hear my mama singing, "Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me"
G                                                          C
She tried to turn me on to Jesus, but I turned on to the Devil's ways
                    D                               G
And I turned out to be the only hell my mama ever raised