(verse 1) 
E                                 
If I was a running this country,   
      A                   E  
I'd start it over from scratch, 
E                                     
Keep what's good pile up what's bad,   
     B   
And then I'd strike the match, 
     E                         
Yeah we go back to the basics,  
    A  
Of how things ought to be, 
       E                            
Yeah there'd be a line of changes,   
   B                 E   
If it was left up to me,  
E                               
Cause what this country needs,   
       A                 E  
Is a little more steel guitar, 
 E  
And put a little fiddle right in the middle, 
         F#             B  
Straight out of a Texas bar, 
          E                                  
And give us a song we can all sing along,     
                   A 
From sea to shining sea, 
 
Yeah be proud of it and always love it, 
         B                 E   
That's what this country needs,  

(verse 2) 
E                                     
Now if you want to hear about living  
       A               E  
Just twist that radio dial 
     E                              B  
You come to a singer singing what life's all about  
E  
But you can't deny that people still cry 
       A 
They laugh and they smile and they hurt 
E                               
That's my humble opinion y'all  
         B                      E  
you can take it for what it's worth 
E                               
Cause what this country needs,   
       A                 E  
Is a little more steel guitar, 
 E  
And put a little fiddle right in the middle, 
         F#             B  
Straight out of a Texas bar, 
          E                                  
And give us a song we can all sing along,     
                   A 
From sea to shining sea, 
 
Yeah be proud of it and always love it, 
         B                 E   
That's what this country needs, 

(Bridie) 
       A                                 
Yeah turn it on up and let it ring out   
   E  
Across the land of the free 
      F# 
They ought to build a statue to Hank Williams Sr, 
      B  
And watch it change the scenery, 
E                               
Cause what this country needs,   
       A                 E  
Is a little more steel guitar 
    E  
Yea put a sawing fiddle right square in the middle, 
         F#             B  
Straight out of a Texas bar, 
       E                                       
And y'all give us a song that we all can sing,  
              A 
From sea to shining sea, 
     E  
Yeah be proud of it and always love it, 
         B                 E   
That's what this country needs,