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Beautiful South : Blue Is The Colour
1996


  1. Don't Marry Her
  2. Little Blue
    1
  3. Mirror
  4. Blackbird On The Wire
  5. The Sound Of North America
  6. Have Fun

  7. Liars' Bar
  8. Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)
  9. Foundations
  10. Artificial Flowers
  11. One God
  12. Alone

Don't Marry Her

C
G
Fmaj7
C
Fmaj7
C
D
G
C
G
Fmaj7
G
Think of you with pipe and slippers, think of her in bed
Fmaj7
C
D
G
Laying there just watching telly, think of me instead
C
G
Fmaj7
G
I'll never grow so old and flabby, that could never be
Fmaj7
G
C
Don't marry her, fuck me
C
G
Fmaj7
G
And your love light shines like cardboard, but your work shoes are glistening
Fmaj7
C
D
G
She's a PhD in "I told you so", you've a knighthood in "I'm not listening"
C
G
Fmaj7
G
She'll grab your sweaty bollocks and slowly raise her knee
Fmaj7
G
C
Don't marry her, fuck me
C
Fmaj7
C
And the Sunday sun shines down on San Francisco Bay
Fmaj7
C
And you realise you can't make it anyway
Fmaj7
C
You have to wash the car, take the kiddies to the park
Fmaj7
G
C
Don't marry her, fuck me
C
G
Fmaj7
G
Those lovely Sunday mornings, with breakfast brought in bed
Fmaj7
C
D
G
Those blackbirds look like knitting needles trying to peck your head
C
G
Fmaj7
G
Those birds will peck your soul out and throw away the key
Fmaj7
G
C
Don't marry her, fuck me
C
G
Fmaj7
G
And the kitchen's always tidy, and The bathroom's always clean
Fmaj7
C
D
G
She's a diploma in "just hiding things", you've a first in "low esteem"
C
G
Fmaj7
G
When your socks smell of angels, but your life smells of Brie
Fmaj7
G
C
Don't marry her, fuck me
C
Fmaj7
C
And the Sunday sun shines down on San Francisco Bay
Fmaj7
C
And you realise you can't make it anyway
Fmaj7
C
You have to wash the car, take the kiddies to the park
Fmaj7
G
C
Don't marry her, fuck me


Little Blue

Capo:
II
|
D
|
A
G
| |
Bm
|
G
A
| |
Bm
|
G
A
| |
D
|
A
G
|
D
A
G
You can't write a novel from a briefcase
Bm
G
A
You can write a poem from a trench
Bm
G
A
You can dream a dream from "A" to "B"
D
A
G
But you can't catch a bus from a bench
You don't back a horse called Striding Snail You don't name your boat Titanic II So why when I see your happy smiling face Do I always end up singing Little Blue
D
G
Little Blue, how do you do?
Em
Your smile looks like heaven
A
D
But your eyes hold a storm about to brew
G
Little Blue
Em
A
How can a flower so pretty be so laden down with dew?
D
Little Blue
Bb
Am
Bb
Am
How can a flower so beautiful be so laden down with dew?
D
Little Blue
You can't build a brewery on a cemetery You can build a pub on a church And people fall quicker than buildings do You have to decide what comes first You don't call a plane the Flying Roman 'Cause the Romans always walked and never flew So why when I see your happy smiling face Do I always end up singing Little Blue Little Blue, how do you do? Your smile looks like heaven But your eyes hold a storm about to brew Little Blue How can a flower so pretty be so laden down with dew? Little Blue
A
G
Bm
G
A
D
A
G
Well Bukowski wrote a story from a barstool
Bm
G
A
And Keats from the top of a hill
Bm
G
A
So I'm going to save my special song for you
D
A
From a grave where it's quiet and it's chill
Bb6
Am
'Cause there's a queue of clouds assembled
Bb6
Am
On the horizon of your smile
Bb6
Am
When most think that you're holding back
G
A
I know you're holding bile
Little Blue, how do you do? Your smile looks like heaven But your eyes hold a storm about to brew Little Blue How can a flower so pretty be so laden down with dew? Little Blue How can a flower so beautiful be so laden down with dew? Little Blue


Mirror

Am
They could be fat or could be thin
Dm
F
They could be black, they could be white
Am
Dm
F
Tell me who's knocking at the knocking shop door tonight
Not much a door can do but open or close Those things are above doors Not much legs can do but open or close Those things are above us whores
G
F
So imagine a mirror bigger than the room it was placed in
G
F
Imagine my wish for a future that cannot hold my wish
Am
Dm
Imagine the want to hold a rod that cannot hold a fish
F
G
Imagine a rod that cannot hold a fish
Am
Dm
F
They could be lonely or could be bust They could be tack, they could be real They do have feelings, but just right now I feel A feminine receptacle, that's just what I am Those things are above us whores Just the best target practice, for a misguided man Those things are above us whores So imagine a mirror bigger than the room it was placed in Imagine my wish for a future that cannot hold my wish Imagine the want to hold a rod that cannot hold a fish Imagine a rod that cannot hold a fish


Blackbird On The Wire

Capo:
III
Am
Am
Dm/a
Eyes to take you dancing, mouth to leave your wife
G5
Em
Legs to run away with, and you wonder why
Am
Dm/a
Heart that makes you bypass every other girl
G5
Em
Smile that keeps you grinning at the madness of this world
Am
Em
And like the blackbird on the wire
Am
Em
I will not take prey on you
Em
Am
You wouldn't want me to
B
Em
For I'm too soft for such a thing
And like the blackbird on the wire I just watch you by The tears I knew I'd cry Fall unnoticed down below And with a tongue built from quick silver And a character of steel They actually come and ask me how I feel And like the blackbird on the wire I will not take prey on you You wouldn't want me to For I'm too soft for such a thing And like the blackbird on the wire I just watch you by The tears I knew I'd cry Fall unnoticed down below
Am
Down below Down below Down below


The Sound Of North America

D
A
G
D
Ginger Elvis Presley looked a fraction sad Roaming the whole town from bin to bin Well, living on the streets wasn't all that bad When no one seemed to know that he was King
Bm
A
The sound of New York City isn't police sirens wailing
D
A
G
It's the sound of Wall Street tills whilst everyone is failing
Bm
Sometimes you feel expensive, sometimes you feels so cheap
G
D
G
D
You can roam the streets a King whilst everyone's asleep
D
A
G
D
You can mime to any record with a hairbrush or a spoon
G
A
But God help the singer out of tune
A crippled Mohammad Ali looked at bad luck in the mirror Bad luck looked back at him and sighed He looked a good foot smaller and a couple of stone thinner And if anyone came toward him he would hide The sound of North America isn't Christians quietly praying It's the sound of shuffling feet that don't know where they're staying Sometimes you feel expensive, sometimes you feels so cheap You can roam the streets a King whilst everyone's asleep You can fight with anybody with a glimmer of a chance But God help the boxer with no hands A homeless Greta Garbo moves across the street The moonlight shining clearly through her skirt A real life living legend that no one wants to meet And that's when being Garbo really hurts The lyrics of "New York" may have Frank Sinatra singing But the rhythm and the melody were dead black men swinging Sometimes you feel expensive, sometimes you feels so cheap You can roam the streets a queen whilst everyone's asleep You can act with anybody from the cradle to the crypt But God help the actress who doesn't know the script


Have Fun

Have fun And if you can't have fun Have someone else's fun 'Cause someone sure had mine They came in, now they're having a whale of a time And you should grow a beard A beard to tell a thousand stories never told before A beard to tell you tales, whilst the fireplace roars The closing of relationships and the opening of doors The starting of hostilities and the ending of wars Take care And if you couldn't care Take someone else's care 'Cause someone took my care They were there and then they were not there And we should have a baby And then I wouldn't feel quite so sad Then I'd feel like Paul the Saint and not Jack the Lad A baby that'll make me feel so very glad I've had a life of booze, but that's all I've ever had 'Cause I'm the King of Misery The Prince of the torn apart And you're the lighthouse keeper To the owner of a ship-wrecked heart Take heart And if you can't take heart Take someone else's heart Someone took my heart They came in, now I'm torn apart We should grey together Not that pigeon-chested Trafalgar grey The grey that greets you on that first October day The grey of Russian front, whilst wolves bay And the skeleton of life that love decays 'Cause you're the Queen of Sadness The Princess of the House of Pain And you're the final match To the holder of this flickering flame Have fun


Liars' Bar

Oh, yeah...
D
E7
Well, sitting in a bar alone where no one knows your name
G
D
Is like laying in a graveyard wide awake
You're scared that if you cough or yawn you might wake up the dead So pretend to read a paper or just drink instead I'm a stand-up comedian, but I'd sit down if I could The world just seems to want folk like me to stand And the punchlines seem to disappear like clouds across the sky And the laughter could be real or could be canned Rum by the kettle drum Whiskey by the jar At Liar's Bar... Well, living with a lying man could never really hurt But living with a drunk one, no one deserves And you're looking for your husband, you're not sure he's still alive Don't bother with the cemetery, he'll be down at Liar's Dive I'm a travelling businessman, I just stopped in for one drink You'll find that I'm not like the other men Their noses are red, whilst mine is only pink And they didn't choose their drink, their drink chose them Rum by the kettle drum Whiskey by the jar At Liar's Bar... And the grave-digger's smiling at his reflection in his spade He's visiting the seediest, the shallowest of graves The vocal chords of elephants and the characters of mice They're singing, "Whiskey, whiskey", so good they named it twice And son, this is rule one... Well, I don't pass buildings with lights on; if I said that I did, I'd have lied 'Cause what looks like a Chinese restaurant may have Chinese New Year inside And son, all my life I've been searching the bars I've been in, I forget The lights outside ever brighter, but a light on the inside not yet Rum by the kettle drum Whiskey by the jar At Liar's Bar... And he's a worldwide traveller, he's not like me or you But he comes in mighty regular for one who's passing through That one came in his work clothes, he's missed his last bus home He's missed a hell of a lot of buses for a man who wants to roam You'll never get to Rome, son And son, this is rule two... If I look rough, I am rough, if I look sad I am If I look broke, I am broke, just a broke-down piece of man And I don't mean to get sad on you all, but this is the truth... I've turned over enough leaves to fill an autumn; if I had one final wish I'd be your slave for a decade if you could take me away from this pish If you took me away from this, I'd be different, you'd see 'Cause I didn't choose a drink, a drink just chose me Rum by the kettle drum Whiskey by the jar At Liar's Bar... Well, I'm smoking like a chimney and I'm drinking like a fish At Liar's Bar...


Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)

C
Fmaj7
Cmaj7
Fmaj7
|--------0----------|--------0----------|
|-----/5-1----------|----0---1----------| x4
|-----/5-2---2---0--|----0---2---2---0--|
|--------3-----3----|--------3-----3----|
|--3----------------|--3----------------|
|-------------------|-------------------|
C
Fmaj7
And the women tug their hair
Cmaj7
Fmaj7
C
Fmaj7
Cmaj7
Fmaj7
Like they're trying to prove it won't fall out
C
Fmaj7
And all the men are gargoyles
Cmaj7
Fmaj7
C
Fmaj7
Cmaj7
Fmaj7
Dipped long in Irish stout
G
The whole place is pickled
G
Am
The people are pickles for sure
G
And no one knows if they've done more here
C
E7
Than they ever would do in a jar
Am
C
This could be Rotterdam or anywhere
Am
C
Liverpool or Rome
Am
C
'Cause Rotterdam is anywhere
D7
G7
C
Anywhere alone, anywhere alone
And everyone is blonde And everyone is beautiful And when blonde and beautiful are multiple They become so dull and dutiful And when faced with dull and dutiful They fire red warning flares Battle khaki personality With red underwear This could be Rotterdam or anywhere Liverpool or Rome 'Cause Rotterdam is anywhere Anywhere alone, anywhere alone


Foundations

|
G
|
D
|
Em
|
F
C
|
x2
G
D
Em
Build your dream castle out of sand
F
C
G
It's bound to get washed up anyway
D
Em
Dream your dreams out of last week
F
C
G
They're bound to have come up yesterday
C
D
If you want to give them flowers Make them paper ones you send Live your life a jigsaw
C
G
Am
It goes back in the box, in the end
Build your dream heart from plasticine 'Cause you're putty in their hands Mould your ambition in concrete 'Cause you'll only land in quicksand Carve your dough from play-dough 'Cause they'll roll you into a ball Make your friends from Lego 'Cause Lego makes a wall
G
C
'Cause when you build big houses, the paintings get stolen
G
C
The devil says he's silver when you know that he is golden
C
Em
When papier mache heads make more sense than the sun
C
Em
Giving teacher apples could be fun or could be dumb
Guitar solo over verse chords
Build your planes from Airfix 'Cause you'll only lose the war Write your love letters on rice paper At least you'll feed the poor Build your dream castle out of sand It's bound to get washed up anyway Dream your dreams out of last week They're bound to have come up yesterday They're bound to have come up yesterday
F
C
G


Artificial Flowers

Alone in the world was poor little Anne As sweet a young child as you'd find Her parents had gone to their final reward Leaving their baby behind Did you hear this poor little child was only nine years of age When mother and dad went away Still she bravely worked at the one thing she knew To earn a few pennies a day She made artificial flowers, artificial flowers Flowers for ladies of fashion to wear She made artificial flowers, artificial flowers Fashioned from Annie's despair With papers and shears, with wire and wax She made up each tulip and mum As snow flakes drifted in to her tenement room Her baby little fingers grew numb From artificial flowers, those artificial flowers Flowers for ladies of high fashion to wear She made artificial flowers, artificial flowers Made from Annie's despair And they found little Annie all covered with ice Still clutching her poor frozen shears Amidst all the blossoms, she had fashioned by hand And watered with all her young tears There must be a Heaven where little Annie can play In heavenly gardens and bowers And instead of halo, she'll wear round her head A garland of genuine flowers No more artificial flowers, artificial flowers Flowers for ladies of society to wear Those artificial flowers, artificial flowers Fashioned from Annie's Fashioned from Annie's despair


One God

D
A7sus4
Like the toupee on a fading fame
D
G
The final whistle in a losing game
D
A7sus4
Thick lipstick on a five year-old girl
D
G
It makes you think that it's a plastic world
A plastic world and we're all plastic too Just a couple of different faces in a dead man's queue The world is turning Disney and there's nothing you can do You're trying to walk like giants but you're wearing Pluto's shoes
Em
And the answers fall easier from the barrel of a gun
D
Than it does from the lips of the beautiful and the dumb
Em
The world won't end in darkness, it'll end in family fun
D
With Coca-Cola clouds behind a Big Mac sun
A howling scream in a church asleep Rusty bicycle in an ocean deep Like an earring on the newly born Strong perfume on a winter's morn The world is perfumed and we're perfumed as well Petals from a flower that blossomed in Hell And you can't breathe the air through the thickness of the smell And you can't see the hair through the grease of the gel And the answers fall easier from the barrel of a gun Than it does from the lips of the beautiful and the dumb The world won't end in darkness, it'll end in family fun With Coca-Cola clouds behind a Big Mac sun You say there's only one God, you could do with two or three Your Jesus Christ is hired out, like the slag of Galilee Well, if Peter is a prostitute, then what does that make me? There's only one God, there should be two or three One God, there should be two or three One God, there should be two or three Two or three There's only one God...


Alone

Like the contents of your handbag You don't know why it's there People ask you where you're heading You just answer, "Anywhere" We don't mean to be this vague It just happens that we are No one asked us to elaborate We just shrug our shoulders and be And like the stories that just happened No one thought of, no one planned We could have ruled, we could have conquered Then we could have been a man We could be ex-husband We could be ex-wife But no one looks at a menu In a greasy spoon life Alone, alone Half an hour is seven hours One day is several months Alone, alone A month is a calendar A year can be a decade spent alone He knows, "Hello" in eighteen languages "I love you" in only one By the time he's got his phrasebook The chance is usually gone And we feel ourselves quite prepared But quite prepared for what? We always took the lead Before we actually knew the plot And you can tell where we've been shopping By the bags beneath our eyes Make-up shoulders burden But the smile never lies We could be ex-husband We could be ex-wife But no one looks at the menu In a greasy spoon life Alone, alone Half an hour is seven hours One day is several months Alone, alone A month is a calendar A year can be a decade spent alone So empty at the airport You don't set off the doors We used to feel like chorus girls And now we feel like whores Hearts built like reservoirs Words built like dams Thoughts built like juggernauts Our actions built like prams And when the wind blows into our face We should be warmer and not colder Well, what price the charges On this cargo that we shoulder We could be ex-husband We could be ex-wife But no one looks at the menu In a greasy spoon life Alone, alone Half an hour is seven hours One day is several months Alone, alone A month is a calendar A year can be a decade spent alone And we only smoke when bored So we do two packs a day And we've lost the difference Between bored and lonely anyway Alone, alone Alone, alone Alone, alone