Fm Eb Bb   Fm Bb   Fm7 Eb Bb   Fm Bb   Fm7 Eb Bb   Fm Bb   Fm Eb Bb
Fm Bb

[Verse 1]
Fm    Eb     Bb             Fm     Eb    Bb
Lord, I'm a working man and music is my trade
               Eb        Bb                C7
I'm traveling with this five piece band, I play the ace of spades
     Fm              F               Bbm  Ab     Eb
I have a wife and family who don't see much of me
 F7                  Bb7
God bless the absentee

[Verse 2]
Fm7           Bb7        Fm7   Eb     Bb7
Lord, I am a surgeon and music is my knife
    F    Eb      Bb7        C7
It cuts away my sorrow and purifies my life
    Fm             F                Bbm    Ab       Eb
But if I could release my heart and veins and arteries
        F7             Bb7
I'd say God bless the absentee


[Verse 3]

  Ebm7     Ebm          D      Gb
I miss my woman so, I miss my bed
  Cm         B              C
I miss those soft places I used to lay my head


[Verse 4]
    Ebm                 D                Gb
My son don't need me yet, his bones are soft
    Cm              B            C7
He flies a silver airplane, he wears a golden cross
 F7                  Bb7
God bless the absentee

[Verse 5]
             Bb
Lord, this country's changed so fast
       Fm   F        Bb           C7
The future is the present, the present's in the past
  Fm              F7             Bbm    Ab    Eb
Highways are in litigation, the airports disagree
  F7           Bb7
God bless the absentee