Billy Bragg : Talking With The Taxman About Poetry

Capo:

I

G

D

C

D

G

D

Am7

G

D

Em

D

C

D

Em

Bm7

Shirley, it's quite exciting to be sleeping here in this new room

G

D

Em

D

C

D

Em

Bm7

Shirley, you're my reason to get out of bed before noon

G

D

Em

D

C

D

Em

Bm7

Shirley, you know when we sat out on the fire escape talking

G

D

Em

D

C

D

Em

Bm7

C

D

Shirley, what did you say about running before we were walking

C

Am7

Sometimes when we're as close as this

G

D

G

It's like we're in a dream

C

How can you lie there and think of England

Am7

D

When you don't even know who's in the team?

G

D

Em

D

C

D

Em

Bm7

Shirley, your sexual politics have left me all of a muddle

G

D

Em

D

C

D

Em

Bm7

Shirley, we are joined in the ideological cuddle

C

Am7

I'm celebrating my love for you

G

D

G

With a pint of beer and a new tattoo

C

And if you haven't noticed yet

Am7

D

I'm more impressionable when my cement is wet

Em

E

Politics and pregnancy

Am

C

Are debated as we empty our glasses

G

Em

C

G

D

And how I love those evening classes

G

D

Em

D

C

D

Em

Bm7

Shirley, you really know how to make a young man angry

G

D

Em

D

C

D

Em

Bm7

Shirley, could we get through the night without mentioning family?

C

Am7

The people from your church agree

G

D

G

It's not much of a career

C

Am7

Trying the handles of parked cars

D

Whoops, there goes another year Whoops, there goes another pint of beer

C

Am

Here we are in our summer years

G

D

G

Living on ice cream and chocolate kisses

C

Am

Would the leaves fall from the trees

D

If I was your old man and you were my missus?

G

D

C

D

G

D

Shirley, give my greetings to the new brunette

C

D

G

D

Greetings to the new brunette

C

D

G

Greetings to the new brunette

Show fingerings

Asus2/e 002200

B 004400

B(vii) 799877

Intro

E|---0------0----------------|

B|---------------------------|

G|-----1--2---2--2-2-2-2-----|

D|--------2------2-2-2-2-----| x4

A|-2------0------0-0-0-0-----|

E|-0-------------------------|

E

Asus2/e

When one voice rules the nation

E

Asus2/e

Just because they're top of the pile

E

Asus2/e

B

E

Asus2/e

Doesn't mean their vision is the clearest The voices of the people Are falling on deaf ears Our politicians all become careerists

A

They must declare their interests

E

But not their company cars

E

C#m

Is there more to a seat in the Parliament

F#m

B(vii)

Than sitting on your arse And the best of all this bad bunch Are shouting to be heard Above the sound of ideologies clashing Outside the patient millions Who put them into power Expect a little more back for their taxes Like schools books, beds in hospitals And peace in our bloody time All they get is old men grinding axes Who've built their private fortunes On the things they can rely The courts, the secret handshake The Stock Exchange and the old school tie For God and Queen and Country All things they justify Above the sound of ideologies clashing God bless the Civil Service The nations saving grace While we expect democracy They're laughing in our face And although our cries get louder Their laughter gets louder still Above the sound of ideologies clashing

C#m

Show fingerings

Bm 799777 G 355433

D x5777x G* xxxx33

D* xxxx75 C* xxxx53

D/c# x4777x B* xxxx77

A 577655 F#m 244222

A* xxxx55

Bm

F#m

G

A

Bm

With the money from her accident

A

D

D/c#

She bought herself a mobile home

A

G

So at least she could get some enjoyment

Bm

A

Out of living alone

G

D

No one could say she was left upon the shelf

A

It's you and me against the world she mumble to herself

C*

G*

D*

A*

C*

G*

D*

B*

C*

G*

D*

A*

Bm

A

When the world falls apart somethings stay in place

G

A

Bm

F#m

Levis Stubbs tears roll down his face

Bm

A

D

D/c#

She ran away from home in her mother's best coat

A

G

Bm

A

She was married before she was even entitled to vote

G

D

And her husband was one of those blokes

A

Bm

The sort who only laughs at his own jokes

G

D

The sort that a war takes away

A

And when there wasn't a war he left her anyway

C*

G*

D*

A*

C*

G*

D*

B*

C*

G*

D*

A*

Bm

A

When the world falls apart somethings stay in place

G

A

Bm

F#m

Levis Stubbs tears roll down his face

G

D

F#m

A

Norman Whitfield and Barratt Strong

G

D

F#m

A

Are here to make right everything that's wrong

G

D

F#m

G

Holland and Holland and Lamont Dozier too

A

Are here to make it OK with you

Bm

A

D

D/c#

One dark night he came home from the sea

A

G

Bm

A

And put a hole in her body, where no hole should be

G

D

It hurt her more to see him walking out the door

A

And though they stitched her back together

Bm

A

They left her heart in pieces on the floor

G

A

Bm

A

When the world falls apart somethings stay in place

G

She takes off the Four Tops tape

A

Bm

A

And puts it back in its case

G

A

Bm

A

When the world falls apart somethings stay in place

G

A

Bm

A

Levis Stubbs tears

G

A

Bm

A

C

G

D

Dsus4

D

e|----------------------------------------3333-------------|

B|-O--1--3--3--3--3-----------11-----11---2222-------------|

G|-O--0--0--0--0--0--------------0---00---0000---0--0----00|

D|---------------------(12)---22--hO-22---0000---2--2----22|

A|---------------------(12)---33----------3000---3--3----33|

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C

G

D

G

D

e|----------------------------------------3333------3----|

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E|----------------------------------------3333---2--3----|

G

C

There is power in a factory, power in the land

G

D

Dsus4

D

Power in the hand of the worker

G

C

But it all amounts to nothing if together we don't stand

G

D

G

There is power in a union

G

C

Now the lessons of the past were all learned with workers blood

G

D

Dsus4

D

The mistakes of the bosses we must pay for

G

C

From the cities and the farmlands to trenches full of mud

G

D

G

War has always been the bosses way, sir

G

The union forever defending our rights

D

Down with the blackleg, all workers unite

G

C

With our brothers and our sisters from many far-off lands

G

D

G

There is power in a union

G

C

Now I long for the morning that they realise

G

D

Dsus4

D

Brutality and unjust laws cannot defeat us

G

C

But who'll defend the workers who cannot organise

G

D

G

When the bosses send there lackeys out to cheat us?

G

Money speaks for money, the Devil for his own

D

Who comes to speak for the skin and the bone?

G

C

What a comfort to the widow, a light to the child

G

D

G

There is power in a union

e|---------------------------------2-|

B|-O--1-3333-5-33-103--3333-533-10-3-|

G|-O--0-0000-0-00-000--0000-000-00-2-|

D|-----------------------------------|

A|-----------------------------------|

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e|----------------------------------------3333------3-|

B|-O--1--3--3--3--3-----------11-----11---2222------2-|

G|-O--0--0--0--0--0--------------0---00---0000---0--0-|

D|--------------------!(12)---22--hO-22---0000---2--0-|

A|--------------------!(12)---33----------3000---3--3-|

E|----------------------------------------3333---2--3-|

G

The union forever defending our rights

D

Down with the blackleg, all workers unite

G

C

With our brothers and our sisters from many far-off lands

G

D

G

There is power in a union

|

C

|

F

C

|

G

C

|

C

|

G

|

C

On Monday I wished it was Tuesday night

F

G

C

So I could wish for the weekend to come

C

On Tuesday I wished that the night would pass

C

G

Am

So I could call you on the phone

F

C

Now a man can spend a lot of time

Am

C

Wondering what was on Jack Ruby's mind

F

Em

Dm

G

And time is all I have without you here

C

On Wednesday when you hung up

F

G

C

It was as much as I could do

C

To stop from wishing Thursday

C

G

Am

Would pass so quickly too

F

C

They're out there making history

C

F

In the Lenin shipyards today

F

C

Am

And here I am in the Hammersmith Hotel

G

C

Wishing the days away

Extra verse from Reissue:

C

Wasn't it a shock to find

F

G

C

The king was human too?

C

Still I think he understands

C

G

Am

Much more of me than you do

F

C

It seems a proper shame to steal

C

F

His clothes but not his crown

F

C

Am

Here I am in the Hammersmith Hotel

G

C

Singing the government down

C

There's always room for one more soul

F

G

C

Down in the human zoo

C

I don't want you to come here though

C

G

Am

I want to come home to you

F

C

Somebody's knocking at the door

C

F

Its later than I think

F

C

Am

And it's time to put on these stinking clothes

G

C

And get out there and stink

C

On Friday I wished there was something more

F

G

C

To be seen in the letters you send

C

On Saturday I wished it was sunday

C

G

Am

Oh will this torment ever end

F

C

F

Sometimes I get a notion to put a torch

F

To the tools of my trade

F

C

Am

Here I am in the Hammersmith Hotel

G

C

Wishing the days away

A

Asus4

A

Asus4

A rainy afternoon

A

Asus4

A

Asus4

Spent in the warmest room

E

She lay before me and said

D

A

Asus4

A

Asus4

"Yes it's true that I have seen some naked men" As she made for the door Leaving me on the floor I wish I'd done biology For an urge within me wanted to do it then

E

And here she comes again

D

And I'm sitting on my hands

A

And she sings to me that siren song

E

D

Here she comes again and I'm biting my lip

A

Asus4

A

Asus4

But it won't be long As Brother Barry said as he married Marion The wife has three great attributes Intelligence, a Swiss Army knife and charm But that's not enough some times And she did speak her mind And told them all that she believed The only way to disarm is to disarm

Bm

F#m

I know people whose idea of fun

D

A

D

A

Is throwing stones in the river in the afternoon sun

Bm

F#m

Oh let me be as free as them

E

Don't let her pass this way again Though you cannot be blamed, but I've become inflamed With thoughts of lust and thoughts of power Thoughts of love and thoughts of Chairman Mao We have such little time at your place or mine I can't wait till we take our blood tests Oh baby, let's take our blood tests now And here she comes again And I'm sitting on my hands And she sings to me that siren song Here she comes again and I'm biting my lip But it won't be long

A

Asus4

A

Asus4

E

A

It won't be long

Capo:

I

D

G

D

Bm

A

x2

D

G

Father mows the lawn and Mother peels potatoes

D

Bm

A

Grandma lays the table alone

D

G

And adjusts a photograph of the unknown soldier

D

Bm

A

In this Holy of Holies the Home

G

D

Em

F#m

And from the TV an unwatched voice

G

D

Em

F#m

Suggests the answer is to plant more trees

G

D

Em

F#m

The scrawl on the wall says what about the workers

G

D

Em

F#m

And the voice of the people says more salt please

D

G

Mother shakes her head and reads aloud from the newspaper

D

Bm

A

And Father puts another lock on the door

D

G

And reflects upon the violent times that we are living in

D

Bm

A

While chatting to the wife beater next door

G

D

Em

F#m

If paradise to you is cheap beer and overtime

G

D

Em

F#m

Home truths are easily missed

G

D

Em

F#m

Something that every football fan knows

G

D

Em

A

Bm

It only takes five fingers to form a fist

A

Em

F#m

And when it rains here, it rains so hard

Em

F#m

G

A

But never hard enough to wash away the sorrow

Em

F#m

G

A

I'll trade my love today for a greater love tomorrow

Em

F#m

G

A

The lonely child looks out and dreams of independence

Em

F#m

G

A

From this family life sentence

D

G

Mother sees but does not read the peeling posters

D

Bm

A

And can't believe that there's a world to be won

D

G

But in the public schools and in the public houses

D

Bm

A

The Battle of Britain goes on

G

D

Em

F#m

The constant promise of jam tomorrow

G

D

Em

F#m

Is the New Breeds litany and verse

G

D

Em

F#m

If it takes another war to fill the churches of England

G

D

Em

F#m

Then the world the meek inherit, what will it be worth

D

G

Mother fights the tears and father, his sense of outrage

D

Bm

A

And attempts to justify the sacrifice

D

G

To pass their creed down to another generation

D

Bm

A

Anything for the quite life

G

D

Em

F#m

In the Land of a Thousand Doses

G

D

Em

F#m

Where nostalgia is the opium of the age

G

D

Em

F#m

Our place in history is as clock watchers

G

D

Em

F#m

Old timers, window shoppers

D

G

D

Bm

A

x4

Fade into Blake's Jerusalem...

Billy Bragg : Talking With The Taxman About Poetry
1986

Greetings To The New Brunette

Ideology

Levi Stubbs' Tears

There Is Power In A Union

Wishing The Days Away

The Warmest Room

The Home Front

Billy Bragg : Talking With The Taxman About Poetry 1986

Greetings To The New Brunette

Ideology

Levi Stubbs' Tears

There Is Power In A Union

Wishing The Days Away

The Warmest Room

The Home Front

Billy Bragg : Talking With The Taxman About Poetry
1986