Daniel Smiling Cifras

[Verse I]
G                                     C                       G
You know, sometimes I just don’t like living in this world at a-a-all
    C                          G                     D
Sometimes, when I read the newspapers, it sickens my soul
       G                                  C              G
In the paper this morning there was a photograph on page three-e-e
          C               G       D          G
Of Daniel smiling, Daniel smiling smiling at me.
 
 
[Verse 2]
G                             C                    G
He was black-eyed and beaten, bruised, abused and aba-a-ased
    C                      G                  D
His life-story written for all to read on his face
    G                                 C            G
But still without hate, as only young children can be-e-e
       C               G        D          G
He was smiling. He was smiling, smiling at me.
 
 
[Chorus]
G      C           G
Ah the look in his eyes
    C           G
The hope in his eyes
        C            G    D          G
And the trust in his eyes changed us all.
 
 
[Verse 3]
G                                       C                           G
They say the bastard who killed him, he lived through the very same he-e-ell
         C                        G                       D
And that terror and pain were his childhood companions as well
    G                          C                     G
But brutalized children become adults who then brutali-i-ize
             C                    G      D           G
It’s not surprising. It’s not surprising that Daniel died.
 
 
[Verse 4]
G                                    C                       G
Now the experts who say this, those professional prophets of care
          C                        G                        D
Those who counted the bruises, who catalogued when, why and where
     G                            C               G
When they've satisfied, their own narrow job protoco-o-ol
         C                 G        D          G
They did nothing. They did nothing, nothing at all.
 
 
[Chorus]
G      C           G
Ah the look in his eyes
    C           G
The hope in his eyes
        C            G    D          G
And the trust in his eyes changed us all.
 
 
[Verse 5]
           G                         C                       G
Now, we invented the system so we’d always have something to blame
         C                             G               D
And next week, or next month, when the system fails us again
       G                           C                G
When I open my paper that morning, I know what I’ll see
        C               G       D          G
Another Daniel. Another Daniel, smiling at me.
 
 
[Chorus]
G      C           G
Ah the look in his eyes
    C           G
The hope in his eyes
        C            G    D          G
And the trust in his eyes changed us all.
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