Tom: Gm
| Gm C | Gm C | Gm C | Gm C |
[Verse]
Gm C
If you reach back in your memory
Gm C
A little bell might ring
Gm C
'Bout a time that once existed
Gm C
When money wasn't king
Cm F
If you stretch your imagination
Cm F
I'll tell you all a tale
Bb F
About a time when everything
Bb F C
Wasn't up for sale
[Chorus]
Gm C
There was this cat named Johnny
F Bb
Who loved to play and sing
Bb F | Gm C | Gm C |
When money wasn't king
[Verse]
Gm C
We'd all get so excited
Gm C
When John would give a show
Gm C
We'd raise the cash between us
Gm C
And down the road we'd go
Cm F
To hear him play that music
Cm F
That spoke right to my soul
Bb F
Every verse a diamond
Bb F C
Every chorus gold
[Chorus]
Gm C
The sound was my salvation
F Bb
It was only everything
Bb F | Gm C | Gm C |
Before money became king
[Middle 8]
F C
Well I ain't sure how it happened
F C
And I don't know exactly when
F C
But everything got bigger
F C
And the rules began to bend
G Dm
And the TV taught the people
G Dm
How to get their hair to shine
G Dm
And how sweet life can be
G Dm
If you keep a tight behind
Am Dm
And they raised the cost of living
Am Dm
And how could we have known
Am Dm
They'd double the price of tickets
2/4 4/4
Am | Bb | Bb F | C |
To go see Johnny's show
[Chorus]
Gm C
So we hocked all our possessions
F Bb
And we sold a little dope
Bb F | Gm C | Gm C | Gm C | Gm C |
And went off to rock'n'roll
[Verse]
Gm C
We arrived there early
Gm C
In time to see rehearsal
Gm C
And John came out and lip-synched
Gm C
His new lite beer commercial
Cm F
And as the crowd arrived
Cm F
As far as I could see
Bb F
The faces were all different
Bb F C
There was no one there like me
[Verse]
Gm C
They sat in golden circles
Gm C
And waiters sevred them wine
Gm C
And talked through all the music
Gm C
And to John paid little mind
Cm F
And way up in the nosebleeds
Cm F
We watched him on the screen
Bb F
They'd hung between the billboards
Bb F C
So cheaper seats could see
[Middle 8]
F C
Johnny rocked that golden circle
F C
And all those VIPs
F C
And that music that had freed us
F C
Became a tired routine
G Dm
And I saw his face in close-up
G Dm
Trying to give it all he had
G Dm
And sometimes his eyes betrayed him
G Dm
You could see that he was sad
Am Dm
And I tried to rock on with him
Am Dm
But I slowly became bored
Am Dm
Could that man on stage with everything
2/4 4/4
Am | Bb | Bb F | C |
Somehow need some more?
[Chorus] (variation)
Gm C
There was no use in pretending
F Bb
No magic left to hear
Gm C
All the music gave me
F Bb
Was a craving for lite beer
Gm C
As I walked out of the arena
F Bb
My ears began to ring
Bb F | Gm C | Gm C | Gm C | Gm C |
And money became king
