Chord transcription by Ola Rinta-Koski 17-Feb-96
with modifications by Cameron Taylor 21-Jul-97 <camtaylor@techemail.com>
Bm
With my face drained of colour
D E
and my brain of blood
C#m Bm
like Billy Budd
A Bm
I'm lashed to the grating
Bm
with senses growing duller
D E
and with quaking heart
C#m Bm
I make a start
A Bm
at temperature equating
G F Em
and my lungs suck useless air
Like paraplegic dancers
in formation team
my understanding seems
hidebound in its movements,
contemplating answers
that could break my bonds -
to be half wrong
would be, in me, improvement...
but my comprehensive faculties are impaired
Am Am/G
And it seems absurd, but now all I've heard
F Em
fades in empty words and is worthless
Am Am/G
as the Human Laugh rocks the cenotaph
F Em
but the joke is half-true, and mirthless
Em
Trying to trace a reason
G A
from the spinning words
F#m Em
but all I've heard
D Em
seem at odds with their meanings,
phonetically pleasing
G A
but delivered in such haste
F#m Em
that in their place
D Em
my mind commences screaming
Am Am/G
On the verge of belief I crash onto the reef
F Em
and a cynical thief steals my senses,
Am Am/G
so I cling to the pew with dimensions askew,
F F#
and recognition refuses present tenses
Bm Bm/A
All the lives of the saints demonstrate that my faint
G F#
is a minor complaint, but the end is
Em
nowhere in sight,
Db C G/B Bb F Eb Db
why can't I find me a way to go?
Bb F
I don't want to die in the nave,
Ab Eb
but I know it may be with me some day
Bb F
so I've got to find a way I can save up
Ab Eb
my energies, and find a cause to pray
Dbsus4 Db Csus4 C
so something for something
Bb Fm Bb Fm (...)
to which I can give my creed...
F(nochord) (...)
Bbsus4/F Fm Bbsus4/F Fm Db Eb/Db Db Eb/Db
Bbsus4/F Fm Bbsus4/F Fm Db Eb/Db Db Eb/Db Eb Db/Eb
Eb Bb
I'd gladly succumb to the wave,
Db Ab
I thought the water taught a way to light;
Eb Bb
I'd gladly succumb - I'm not brave,
Eb F Db Eb Db C Ab Bb
and it's easy to believe what the preacher says
Eb F Db Eb Db C Ab C
except for the conflict raging between my head
Bb
and my brain
Ab
I don't want to die, but just the same -
Eb F
some day...
Bm
Waiting for that moment
D E
that I know will come
C#m Bm
when I'll have to run
my heart grows ever more faint -
and find another sermon...
Bm
Everyman and No-man
D E
and the talking priest -
C#m Bm
still, I am at least
A Bm
holding all the doors open
G F Em
Inside me all outside is shared
Am Am/G
As the cracked bells peal it all seems unreal
F Em
but the seventh seal stays unbroken
Am Am/G
and the Offertory plate tenders no escape -
F F#
still I refuse to scrape up a token
Bm
No esteem for these false
Am/G
alleyways of the course;
F F#
I must try to divorce sense from sensing
Em
Tell me again,
C G/B Bb F F# Ab
tell me the way to go
Db Fm/C
So when I talk to myself
Bbsus4 Bb
although I take good care to listen
B Db
my heart grows ever more faint -
Bbm Bb
there's something missing?