Intro:   Ab5/Eb  (×4)

Eb                                       Db
 When I walk beside her I am the better man
Ab                                                       Eb
 When I look to leave her I always   stagger back again

Once I built an ivory tower so I could   worship from above
When I climbed down to be set free   she took me in again

                 Eb                    Bbm
There's a big, a big hard sun
                               Ab                                  Eb
Beatin' on the big people in the big hard world

 When she comes to greet me she is   mercy at my feet
 When I see her bitter charm she just   throws it back at me

 Once I dug an early grave   to find a better land
 She just smiled and laughed at me.  and took her blues back again

There's a big, a big hard sun
Beatin' on the big people in the big hard world

Oh, there's a big, a big hard sun
Beatin' on the big people in the big hard world

Intro: Eb5  Ab5/Eb  (×2)

When I go to cross that river she is   comfort by my side
When I try to understand she just   opens up her hands

Eb    Ab5/Eb  Db     Ab     Eb    Ab5/Eb
Eb    Ab5/Eb  Db     Ab     Eb

There's a big, a big hard sun
Beatin' on the big people in the big hard world

Eb5  Ab5/Eb  (×2)

Once I stood to lose her when I   saw what I had done
Bound down and threw away the hours of her   garden and her sun

So I tried to warn her, I turned to see her weep
40 days and 40 nights and it's still coming down on me

There's a big, a big hard sun
Beatin' on the big people in the big hard world

Oh, there's a big, a big hard sun
Beatin' on the big people in the big hard world

Oh, there's a big, a big hard sun
Beatin' on the big people in the big hard world

Oh, there's a big, a big hard sun