Billy Bragg : Misc

Bm(vii) 7990xx

A(v) 5776xx

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I've always been impressed with the girl Who could sing for her supper and get breakfast as well

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That's the way I am, heaven help me She said we don't like peace campaigners round here As she nailed another one to the wall And that's the way I am heaven help me

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Goodbye and good luck to the promises you've broken

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Goodbye and good luck to the rubbish that you've spoken

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Your life has lost its dignity, its beauty and its passion

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You're an accident waiting to happen There you are standing at the bar and you're Giving me grief about the DDR And that chip on your shoulder gets bigger as you get older One of these nights you're gonna get caught It'll give you a pregnant pause for thought You're a dedicated follower of fascism Time up and time out for all the liberties you've taken Time up and time out for all the friends that you've forsaken If you choose to waste away like death is back in fashion You're an accident waiting to happen My tears are so unoriginal I have all the self loathing of a wolf in sheep's clothing In this carnival of carnivores heaven help me Goodbye and good luck to all the promises you've broken Goodbye and good luck to all the rubbish that you've spoken Your life has lost its dignity, its beauty and its passion You're an accident waiting to happen

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I was a miner, I was a docker

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I was a railwayman between the wars

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I raised a family, in times of austerity

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With sweat at the foundry between the wars

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I paid the union, as times got harder

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I looked to the government to help the working man

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But they brought prosperity down at the armoury

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We're arming for peace, me boys, between the wars

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I kept the faith and I kept voting

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Not for the iron fist but for the helping hand

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For theirs is a land with a wall around it

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And mine is a faith in my fellow man

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Theirs is a land of hope and glory

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Mine is the greenfield and the factory floor

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Theirs are the skies all dark with bombers

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And mine is the peace we knew between the wars

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Call up the craftsman, bring me the draughtsman

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Build me a path from cradle to grave

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And I'll give my consent to any government

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That does not deny a man a living wage

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Go find the young men, never to fight again

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Bring up the banners from the days gone by

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Sweet moderation, heart of this nation

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Desert us not we are between the wars

Cmaj9 x20010

Fmaj9 x33010

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Am7

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I'm never gonna be the handyman around the house my father was

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Cmaj9

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So don't be asking me to hang a curtain rail for you, because

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Screwdriver business just gets me confused

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It takes me half an hour to change a fuse

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And when I flicked the switch the lights all blew

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I'm not your handyman

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Cmaj9

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Don't be expecting me to put up shelves or build a garden shed

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But I can write a song that tells the world how much I love you instead

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I'm not any good at pottery

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So let's lose the "T" and just shift back the "E"

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And I'll find a way to make my poetry

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Build a roof over our heads

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I know it looks like I'm just reading the paper

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But these ideas I'll turn to gold dust later

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'Cause I'm a writer not a decorator...

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I'm not your handyman

Badd9 x20010

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I ain't got no home, I'm just a-roamin' round

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Just a wanderin' worker, I go from town to town

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And the police make it hard wherever I may go

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And I ain't got no home in this world anymore

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No I ain't got no home in this world anymore My brothers and my sisters are stranded on this road A hot and dusty road that a million feet have trod Now the Rich man took my home and drove me from my door And I ain't got no home in this world anymore

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Badd9

No I ain't got no home in this world anymore

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I was a-farmin' on the shares, and always I was poor

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My crops I lay into the banker's store

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And my wife took down and died upon the cabin floor

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And I ain't got no home in this world anymore

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No I ain't got no home in this world anymore I mined in your mines and I gathered in your corn I been working, mister, since the day that I was born Now I worry all the time like I never did before 'Cause I ain't got no home in this world anymore No I ain't got no home in this world anymore Now as I look around, it's mighty plain to see This world is such a great and a funny place to be Oh, the gamblin' man is rich an' the workin' man is poor And I ain't got no home in this world anymore

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No I ain't got no home in this world anymore

Wouldn't it be wonderful If we could save the world and all Simply by collecting up Tin cans and empty bottles We all want to believe it's true But it don't matter what you do So long as we continue to Burn our way through fossils Now it should come as no surprise To learn about the ocean's rise The polar caps are melting With every year that the planet warms Now people have to understand We're going to feel it far inland It's going to shift the seasons And super-charge the storms King Tide is a-coming King Tide is a-coming King Tide is a-coming Bringing flooding on a sunny day King Tide is a-coming Can't you hear the melt waters running? King Tide is a-coming Going to sweep everything away And you know The oceans they connect us all No one can just build a wall We have to work together We can't do this on our own To think that you can stand aside Is nothing more than foolish pride 'Cause everyone's a libertarian Until the brown water floods their home Now you may live on higher ground Feeling like you're safe and sound Thinking as you look around This is your lucky day But everyone beneath the sky Soon be looking for somewhere high and dry And nothing you can ever do Will keep them all at bay King Tide is a-coming King Tide is a-coming King Tide is a-coming Bringing flooding on a sunny day King Tide is a-coming Can't you hear the melt waters running? The King Tide is a-coming Going to sweep everything away The King Tide is a-coming And we have to act today

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It's bad timing and me

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We find a lot of things out this way

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And there's you, a little black cloud in a dress

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The temptation

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To take the precious things we have apart

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To see how they work

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Must be resisted for they never fit together again

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If this is rain let it fall on me and drown me

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If these are tears let them fall

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Must I paint you a picture

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About the way that I feel?

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You know that my love for you is strong, girl

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You know that my love for you is real

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It took a short walk and a talk

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To change the rules of engagement

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While you searched frantically for reverse

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And then claiming

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That virtue never tested is no virtue at all

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And so I lost my ignorance

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And now the bells across the river chime out your name

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I look across to them again Must I paint you a picture About the way that I feel? You know that my love for you is strong, girl You know that my love for you is real

Em

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C7

All your friends say come down, it will never fly

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And on that imperfect day

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We threw it all away

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Crisis after crisis, with such intensity

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This would never happen if we lived by the sea

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Most important decisions in life

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Are made between two people in bed

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I found that out at my own expense

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And when I see you

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You just turn around and walk away like we never met

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Oh we used to be so brave

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I dreamt the world stopped turning as we climbed the hill

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I dreamt impossible dreams that we were lovers still Must I paint you a picture About the way that I feel? You know that my love for you is strong, girl You know that my love for you is real

Gmaj9 xx0032

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I've had relations with girls from many nations

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I've made passes at women of all classes

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And just because you're gay I won't turn you away

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If you stick around, I'm sure that we can find some common ground

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Sexuality! Strong and warm and wild and free

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Sexuality! Your laws do not apply to me A nuclear submarine sinks off the coast of Sweden Headlines give me headaches when I read them I had an uncle who once played for Red Star Belgrade He said that some things are really best left unspoken But I prefer it all to be out in the open Sexuality! Young and warm and wild and free Sexuality! Your laws do not apply to me Sexuality! Don't threaten me with misery Sexuality! I demand equality

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I'm sure that everybody knows how much my body hates me

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It lets me down most every time and makes me rash and hasty

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I feel a total jerk before your naked body of work I'm getting weighed down with all this information Safe sex doesn't mean no sex it just means use your imagination Stop playing with yourselves in hard currency hotels I look like Robert De Niro, I drive a Mitsubishi Zero Sexuality! Young and warm and wild and free Sexuality! Your laws do not apply to me Sexuality! Don't threaten me with misery Sexuality! I demand equality

Kiss me goodnight and say my prayers Leave the light on at the top of the stairs Tell me the names of the stars up in the sky A tree taps on the window pane That feeling smothers me again Daddy is it true that we all have to die At the top of the stairs Is darkness I closed my eyes and when I looked Your name was in the memorial book And what had become of all the things we planned I accepted the commiserations Of all your friends and your relations But there's some things I still don't understand You were so tall How could you fall? Some photographs of a summer's day A little boy's lifetime away Is all I've left of everything we've done Like a pale moon in a sunny sky Death gazes down as I pass by To remind me that I'm but my father's son I offer up to you This tribute I offer up to you This tank park salute

Capo:

IV

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It may have been Camelot for Jack and Jacqueline Or on the Che Guevara highway filling up with gasoline Fidel Castro's brother spies a rich lady who's crying Over luxury's disappointment so he walks over and he's trying

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To sympathise with her

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But he thinks that he should warn her

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That the third world is just around the corner In the Soviet Union, a scientist is blinded By the resumption of nuclear testing and he is reminded That Doctor Robert Oppenheimer's Optimism fell At the first hurdle In the cheese pavilion, the only noise I hear Is the sound of someone stacking chairs and mopping up spilled beer And someone asking questions And basking in the light Of the fifteen fame-filled minutes of the fanzine writer Mixing pop and politics, he asks me what the use is I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses While looking down the corridor Out to where the van is waiting I'm looking for the great leap forwards Jumble sales are organised and pamphlets have been posted Even after closing time, there's still parties to be hosted You can be active with the activists Or sleep in with the sleepers While you're waiting for the great leap forwards Oh, it's one leap forwards, two leaps back Will politics get me the sack? Waiting for the great leap forwards Well here comes the future and you can't run from it If you've got a blacklist I wanna be on it Waiting for the great leap forwards Well it's a mighty long way down rock and roll From Top Of The Pops to drawing the dole You're waiting for the great leap forwards If no one out there understands Start your own revolution and cut out the middleman Waiting for the great leap forwards In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune But this is reality so give me some room Waiting for the great leap forwards So join the struggle while you may The revolution is just a T-shirt away Waiting for the great leap forwards

It may have been Camelot for Jack and Jacqueline But on the Hugo Chavez highway filling up with gasoline Little Donald Rumsfeld spies a rich lady who's crying Over luxury's disappointment so he walks over and he's trying To sympathise with her But he thinks that he should warn her To prepare to be bombed back into the stone age In the former Soviet Union the citizens demand To know why they're still the target of strategic air command And they shake their fists in anger And respectfully suggest We take the money from our missiles and spend it on our hospitals instead The cold war now is over, but the stakes are getting higher I'm frightened of collateral damage and of friendly fire And I don't believe we can defeat No axis of evil By putting smart bombs in the hands of dumb people Mixing pop and politics, they ask me what the use is I over them my acupuncturist and my masseuses While looking down the corridor Out to where my ego is waiting I'm looking for the new world order Jumble sales are organised, all my mates got fat Even after all this time you can still send me a fax You can be active with the activists Or sleeping with the media While you're waiting for the great leap forwards Oh, one leap forwards, two leaps back Will YouTube give MTV the sack? Waiting for the great leap forwards Well, here comes the future and you can't run from it If you've got a tattoo, Henry, I wanna be on it! Waiting for the great leap forwards In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune But this is reality, not American Idol! Waiting for the great leap forwards So join the struggle while you may The revolution's just an ethical haircut away When you're waiting for the great leap forwards

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| I heard a bell ringing In tower of last desire Come from small beginnings The living world undone Now it hums that is singing Like words out on the wire They don't like surrender Your name on my tongue Grief was my companion It pushed me like a seed Compass blade at my fool Pointing up to the sun Fear bears a strange courage It's a whole conspiracy The troops kneel down the path Your name on my tongue Your name on my tongue Your name on my tongue Your name on my tongue Get up, get up, fix it up, no time Get up, fix it, fix it up, no time Get up, get up, fix it up, no time Get up, fix it, fix it up, no time 'Cause I'm still in love Yeah, I'm still in love Yeah, I'm still in love With you I've set out a table I've made up my bed The ceiling above my head The floor way down But I've barely been able To hold my own on my peace But I'll never let go Your name on my tongue Your name on my tongue Your name on my tongue Your name on my tongue

Billy Bragg : Misc

Accident Waiting To Happen

Between The Wars

Handyman Blues

I Ain't Got No Home

King Tide And The Sunny Day Flood

Must I Paint You A Picture?

Sexuality

Tank Park Salute

Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards

Your Name On My Tongue