Todd Snider

Talkin Reality Television Blues

Todd Snider


Tom: G

 G Run
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A|-----------|
E|---[0]-2-3-|

 C Run
E|----------|
B|----------|
G|----------|
D|----------|
A|---0-2-3--|
E|----------|

 D Run (this Is What I Do Anyway)
E|----------2-|
B|----------3-|
G|------0---2-|
D|--0h2---0-0-|
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[Verse 1]
G
Come gather round and I'll sing you a song
C
About a crazy old world that was coming along
G
Til one day some fool made the decision
D
To turn on the television


[Verse 2]
G
Of course radio reported that we'd all ignore it
C
And the paper said we had no time for it
G
But before you knew it we knew Milton Berle
D
And we all had a new escape from the world


[Verse 3]
G
All tuned in and before too soon
C
We were watching a man walk on the moon
G
He made it look as easy as driving a car
D
Video killed the radio star

I got the talking blues


[Verse 4]
G
Talking blues are easy to do
C
All you gotta rhyme is a line or two
G
Rhyme a line or two and then
D
You don't ever have to rhyme again...

I can say whatever I want to now...

You know, within reason


[Verse 5]
G
Say sitcom catchphrase game show nation
C
Television soon defied explanation
G
As the situation took to such a degree
D
That eventually we'd hear about a cable TV


[Verse 6]
G
Of course free TV news swore we'd ignore it
C
And that your average family could never afford it
G
But again they were wrong and eventually
D
Everybody wanted their MTV


[Verse 7]
G
We were all tuned in but now the shock
C
Was watching a kid do a thing called the moonwalk
G
Sliding backwards really was eventually too far
D
Reality killed that video star, I got the talking blues


[Verse 8]
G
So simple at first it was hard to for see
C
The impending collision with reality
G
But it soon seemed TV turned on it self
D
When "the real world" came on like it was something else


[Verse 9]
G
Of course actors all acted like they weren't floored
C
Hoping eventually that we'd all get bored
G
But one after another we pretended not to act
D
As we hurtled ever forward toward alternative facts


[Verse 10]
G
Then a show called the apprentice came on and pretty soon
C
An old man with a comb over came along and sold us the moon
G
And we stayed tuned in now here we are
D
Reality killed by a reality star...  I got the talking blues