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[Verse 1]
   D                             C
I lived a happy life ‘til I was ten years old
           G
When debt landed dad in prison and our country house was sold
        D                         C
Lodged with a lady in her London flat, so cold
          G
Worked at a boot polish factory, labelling jars quite dull all told
          Am
Goodness only knows
C         D         G
 I was a miserable soul

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[Verse 2]
       D                                C
For a time I went to school but then I found a job
       G
As a clerk to a lawyer, oh, it made my poor head throb
   D                            C
I failed to be an actor despite my loud gob
      G
Ended up reporting speeches of the parliamentary mob
          Am
Then as everybody knows
C            D      G
 I started writing prose

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[Chorus 1]
        Am
Put my life into my books
           C             D
Friends and enemies and crooks
      Am
Legal bosses up they crop
             C         D
In “The Old Curiosity Shop”
      Am
Fagin in “Oliver Twist”
           C                D
A factory pal, you get the gist
       G         D              Em
And although my memory’s quite foggy
             C                D         G
Got Scrooge from the grave of Ebenezer Scroggie

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[Verse 3]
    D                              C
My first book was an overnight sensation
       G
But I drove myself too hard to enjoy the adulation
    D                                   C
Despite my wealth, my family begged for money
   G
I wrote of it in “Chuzzlewit” which people said was funny
        Am
Didn’t sell like books before
    C            D         G
My family still asked for more

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[Chorus 2]
         Am
“Little Dorrit” is a tale
          C               D
About my dad in debtor’s jail
        Am
While “Hard Times” tells my life
              C                 D
‘Bout when I tried to leave my wife
         Am
“Little Nell’s” death was my poor dear
      C             D
Departed sister-in-law
            G             D            Em
And “David Copperfield”, working in a factory
   C                 D              G
I must confess that that was really me

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[Bridge]
Em                            C           D
In my life, felt shame ‘bout poverty in childhood
Em                    C             D
Wrote about sadness, suffering and fear
Em                C           D
Also wrote about people with funny names
Em                                 C            D        G
Bumble, Smallweed, Scrooge, Uriah Heep And Wackford Squeers

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[Chorus 3]
        Am
Whilst writing “Edwin Drood”
               C              D
A train crash didn't help my mood
      Am
Still I drove myself on
               C              D
With readings far across the pond
        Am
Died before I wrote Drood’s end
                C                  D
Sort of thing drove me ‘round the bend
    G                D             Em
So Dickens, take a Dickens, take a bow
     C
And Heaven knows
     D         G
I’m miserable now