When Detroit Was Burning

A

[Verse]

There was a fire in the sky over 
Gratiot
          D                      
You could see it all the way from 
       A
Springwells
E                                 
Standing on the front lawn in the 
F#m
blackness
        E
Holding fast to mama's knees

The whole block on the street
                 A
When Detroit was burning

[Verse]

Dad said this had been coming for 
sometime
    D                              
The black guys on the line had told
     A
 him so
    E                              
The city of the ghettoes burned on 
F#m
fire
          E
There was nothing on the news

But all the neighbours knew
                 A
When Detroit was burning

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[Chorus]
     D                           F#m
When Detroit was burning, burning
     D                            
When Detroit was burning, burning 
E
down

[Verse]
           A
There were no kids in the park on 
Saturday
    D                              
The Guardsmen set up tents under 
  A
the swings
     E                             
They drove their jeeps around 
  F#m
Vernor Highway
            E
Then they'd go downtown at night

To shoot everything in sight
                 A
When Detroit was burning

[Bridge]
D                        A
I was just a little girl playing 
with my friends
  D                            E
I didn't know what it meant to live 
in a black kid's skin
    D                              
I'm older now and there's still so 
                  E
much I don't understand

[Instrumental]
A    D  A  E  F#m  E    A

[Verse]

The farmer's market's thriving down 
on Gratiot
            D                      
But there's fire in the night 
        A
around Springwells
E                              F#m
Detroit wasn't reborn from the ashes
          E
It's been nearly thirty years

And hate's still living here
                  A
Where Detroit was burning

[Chorus]
     D                           F#m
When Detroit was burning, burning
     D                            
When Detroit was burning, burning 
E
down
Bm                  F#m
Our hometown burning down