Tom: Ebm
D#m
The world is an overflowing gutter
B
It bubbles with the brine of shit and blood
G#m
And those who keep their eyes upon the heavens
B A# E
Are the ones that end up faces down in the mud
D#m
It's easy to speak of grand ambitions
B
Its easy to pretend you're innocent
G#m
But lest you get distracted by the suffering of your sister
B A#7 E
Being practical and trying to pay the rent
[Chorus]
B D#m
Heaven has been promised to the righteous
G#m F#
Hell's an overpopulated pit
C# A#7 D#m A#
Purgatory's given to the dreamers
B A#7 D#m
But the world belongs to those who plow the shit
[Verse]
D#m
There's a special place in hell for fancy talkers
B
There's a special place in heaven for the whores
G#m
There's a throne reserved for those with good ideas
B A#7
Stolen by the demagogues who wanted more
D#m
The flowers and the laces in the market
B
Are all purchased by the peddlers of the flesh
G#m
But those who bring relief and carnal pleasure
B A#7
Sometimes serve the needs of mankind for the best
[Chorus]
B D#m
Cast off the limitations of the righteous
G#m F#
There are good deeds only devils can commit
C# A#7 D#m A#
Let us dance between the teardrops and the angels
B A#7 D#m
For the world belongs to those who plow the shit
[Bridge]
B G#m
At last the supreme maker decreed that this creature
B
To whom he could give nothing wholly his own
Should have a share
A#7 D#m
In the particular endowment of every other creature
Taking man therefore this
D#m
Creature of indeterminate image
B
He set him in the middle of the world
G#m
And thus spoke to him
B
We have given you, oh Adam
A#7
No visage proper to yourself
D#m
No endowment properly your own
In order that
B
Whatever price, whatever form, whatever gifts you may with
Premeditation select
G#m
These same may you have and possess
B
Through your own judgement and decision
A#7
We have made you a creature neither of heaven
D#m
Nor of Earth!
Neither mortal
D#m
Nor immortal!
B
In order that you may
G#m
As the free and proud shaper of your own being
Fashion yourself in the form you may propose
B A#7
It will be in your power
D#m
To descend to the lower brutish forms of life
B
You will be able through your own judgement and decision
G#m
To rise again to the superior orders
B A#7
Of life is divine!
[Verse]
D#m
The dead become the emperors of memory
B
The saints have all been eaten by the worms
G#m
The living will write a twisted future
B A#7
And the sinners all have practical concerns
D#m
The sentinels with rifles on the border
B
Of the pretenses of charity are swept
G#m
Oh but let's not talk of slipping into nightmares
B A#7
For the day is run by those who haven't slept
[Chorus]
B D#m
So throw away the vestments of the righteous
B D#m
Make sure the body armor snuggly fits
C# A#7 D#m A#
The souls are taken flight now from the birdhouse
B A#7 D#m
And the world belongs to those who plow the shit
