Life In Vain
Daniel Johnston
FUN (1994), Frankenstein Love (1998)

Don't want to be free of hope
And I'm at the end of my rope
It's so tough just to be alive
When I feel like the living dead
I'm giving it up so plain
I'm living my life in vain
And where am I going to?
I got to really try
Try so hard to get by
And where am I going to?

I don't know where is up or down
And there ain't any love left around
Everybody wearin' a frown
Waiting for Santa to come to town
You're giving it up so plain
You're living your lives in vain
And where are you going to?
You've got to really try
Try so hard to get by
And where are you going to?

Flip on your TV
And try to make sense out of that
If we were all in the movies
Maybe we wouldn't be so bored
We're giving it up so plain
We're living our lives in vain
And where are we going to?
You gotta really try
Try so hard to get by
And where are you going to?

Goodbye, goodbye

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Life In Vain
CHORDS - thanks to Brett Hartenbach

Intro: Pick the 3^rd, 2^nd, and 1^st strings in a 3-2-1-2-3-2-1-2 … pattern off of a D2 chord position (*chord position: xx0230-do not play the D [4^th string] in this picking pattern).  Then repeat the pattern by adding the suspended 4 to the chord (chord position: xx0233-do not play the D [4^th string] in this picking pattern).

G C D G C D

G                    C              D

Don't want to be free of hope

G                      C             D

And I'm at the end of my rope

G           C                     D

It's so tough just to be alive

G           C                          D

When I feel like the living dead

C                             G            

I'm giving it up so plain

                               D2*

I'm living my life in vain

                          C 

And where am I going to?

                      G

I got to really try

                              D2

Try so hard to get by

                            C            G C D G C D

And where am I going to?

G                     C                   D

I don't know where is up or down

G                     C                    D

And there ain't any love left around

G        C                     D

Everybody wearin' a frown

G                     C                     D

Waiting for Santa to come to town

C                                 G            

You're giving it up so plain

                                          D2

You're living your lives in vain

                                C

And where are you going to?

                                G

You've got to really try

                              D2   G C D G C D

Try so hard to get by

                                 C            G C D G C D

And where are you going to?

G    C            D

Flip on your TV

G                 C                          D

And try to make sense out of that

G               C             D

If we were all in the movies

G                     C                D

Maybe we wouldn't be so bored

C                               G

We're giving it up so plain

                                       D2

We're living our lives in vain

                               C

And where are we going to?

                          G

You gotta really try

                              D2

Try so hard to get by

                                C            G C D G

And where are you going to?

          C   D G            C   D

Goodbye … goodbye