Dm  F  C


[Verse 1]
N.C                Dm             F                           C
Swinging Doors and Whiskey River the first words I learned to say
                             Dm          F                      C
Willie, Merle, and all those outlaws was all that daddy'd ever play
                            F                                C
These beer joints where I'm workin', I started workin' at sixteen
          Am            Dm                   F              C     A# F C
Now if I look a little ragged must be those thirty years between
N.C.                      Dm             F                 C
My first single hit the big-time, for a while there I was hot
                    Dm                 F                     C
I can't recall the early nineties these last ten I'd rather not
                             F                               C
There are mornings when I wonder what I can show for all my time
    Am                  Dm             F                      C    A# F C
Oh, but I sure can sing with feeling, whiskey river take my mind


[Chorus 1]
C                            F
This honky tonkin' way of livin'
                          C
I've been livin' way too long
                          Dm
'Scuse me if I'm late for heaven
F                      C
I just lived a country song
Dm  F  C  Am
Dm  F  C


[Verse 3]
C                      Dm             F                      C
Now at this Super 8 in Reno, a couple screamin' through the wall
                        Dm          F               C
I'm layin' in my jeans and dreamin' about a girl in Omaha
                                  F                              C
Well that's been twenty years and counting I can't go back there anyhow
           Am          Dm         F                              C
I hitched my wagon to a heartache and Lord, I'm sleepin' with it now


[Chorus 2]
C                         F
This honky tonkin' way of livin'
                             C
Will make a weak out of the strong
                                Dm
Don't tell your troubles to me mister
F                            C
Until you've lived a country song


[Bridge]
G
When that lost highway finds you
C
Those family ties won't bind you
 F                          C
No matter how your mama may cry
            D
Just follow Hank down that highway
  D
'Til you feel it when you say
G                 D     G     N.C.
I'm so lonesome I could cry


[Outro]
N.C.                      F
This honky tonkin' way of livin'
                         C
I've been livin' way too long
                          Dm
'Scuse me if I'm late for heaven
 F                      C
I just lived a country song
             Dm
And if I never get to heaven
      F                       C   A# F C
It's 'cause I lived a country song