Maintaining Law And Order

D                              
The policemen of the city wear a 
             Bm
uniform of blue
F#m                       A
walkin' within the city's border
D
protecting all the people
                            Bm
that's what they're paid to do,
F#m         A       D
maintaining law and order.

[Verse 2]

D
You see them walkin' down the street
                    Bm
swingin' around the club
F#m                              
pistols hangin' loosely from the 
A
holster
D
and the something of the soldier
                       Bm
in the shedding of the blood
F#m         A       D
maintaining law and order.

[Verse 3]
D
And at the police academy
                         Bm
they're trainin' for the day
Continues after the ad
          F#m                      
where the rookies are training to 
  A
be colder
D                                 
learning to be as hard as the hard
            Bm
 world they face
F#m         A       D
maintaining law and order.

[Verse 4]

D
Now in many Southern cities
                             Bm
they don't need to use their hands
         F#m                       
oh, they throw them roughly in the 
A
corner
    D                              
and tell the other prisoners 
                  Bm
"Here's a nigger-lovin' man"
      F#m         A       D
while maintaining law and order.

[Verse 5]

D
Now I'll be the first to tell you
                          Bm
that their pay is not the best
         F#m                     
for they all have a wife and must 
         A
support her
       D                           
so the gamblers and the prostitutes
              Bm
 pay them the rest
           F#m      A       D
while they maintain law and order.

[Verse 6]

D
These are bitter words of warning
                        Bm
and they have to leave you sad
        F#m                 
cause a cop may save my life 
 A
tomorrow
D                              
but it's really for the good man 
                             Bm
that I'm singing about the bad
        F#m         A       D
who are maintaining law and order.

[Verse 7]

D
Now they ask for greater power
                       Bm
from the bottom to the top
      F#m                   A
their demands daily growing bolder
    D                              
but who maintain the police and who
              Bm
 maintain the cops
           F#m      A           D
while they maintain law, law and 
order.