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True Revolutionary

Dan Bern
Version1
90

Chords in this song

Strum
D-DU-UDU
Look,  Ma,
 They're gonna fry  Tim McVeigh
She  said that nice guy
 Who was on the cover  of all  of those magazines?
Why  would they want to do a thing like that?
I  said well, he killed all those people in  Oklahoma City
 She said nonsense, people  don't kill people
Car  bombs kill people
And  I said well, yeah, Ma But they gotta do something with him
 She said why don't  they get Mike Tyson
 To bite off both his ears?
 And I say true  revolutionaries
Never  bomb buildings
True  revolutionaries
Never  bomb buildings
It  attracts too  much attention
They  never bomb buildings
 A little girl down my block
 Was born with silicone in her breasts
 Turned out her grandmother and her mother
 Had both had the implants done
 And, well, evolution took care of it this time around
 And I wondered what it is about
 So many women with big breasts
 Make them look so sad
 And I thought, well, maybe it has to do with the weight,
 The burden they're asked to carry in the world
 To feed it, to be the object of its desires
 And I wondered what burdens the rest of us are carrying all the time
 And I couldn't help thinking
 True revolutionaries
 Never bomb buildings
 True revolutionareis
 Never bomb buildings
 It attracts too much attention
 They never bomb buildings
 And I decided to go out for a walk
 And do nothing except
 Look everybody I see in the eyes
 And not be the first to avert my eyes
 No matter what
 And I was planning to be gone for ten minutes
 But things started happening
 And I didn't return for two years
 By which time I was the heavyweight champion of the world
 And the expectant father of sixteen children
 By thirteen different women
 I was in a fishing village in coastal Spain
 It was Our Lady of Abortion Sunday afternoon
 All the pregnant ladies in their first trimester
 Filed before the priest to receive the blessing of
 "Try again sometime, try again"
 The old barber had dyed his hair green for the occasion
 And pierced his nipples
 And was riding his skateboard to the statue of Conan O'Brien
 Where he was doing backflips for the little kids
 Who threw coins given to them by their parents
 A visiting lecturer
 Achingly handsome
 Had just finished giving a
 "How to build bombs in your basement" seminar in the park
 All the young girls put their notebooks away dreamily
 And put dandelions in their hair
 The chimpanzee who had managed to type out Hamlet three years before
 Was sitting in the third floor office of the driver's license building
 Typing out zoning ordinances
 Typing out learner's permits
 Bored and lonely
 Pee Wee Herman was sitting in the central square in the grass
 Naked and masturbating
 While all the townspeople moved to him slowly
 And kissed him softly
 And sung lullabies in the grass
 And in Berkeley
 And in Greenwich Village
 And in Paris
 And in Scottsbluff, Nebraska
 No one sits around funky little coffee shops anymore
 Talking revolution
 They get a Starbucks to go
 They go back to their basketball games
 Where they see who can jump higher
 Who can jam
 Who can take it to the rack
 And they all wear baseball caps
 'Cept they don't say Yankees or Dodgers or Cardinals anymore
 They say Nike; Reebok; Adidas
 Because the pro players don't play for teams anymore
 They play for shoe companies
 And the kids aren't fooled
 They're just biding their time
 Waiting for the millennium
 When all the computers will crash
 Because the best scientists in the world
 Forgot to make them read zero
 True revolutionaries
 Never bomb buildings
 True revolutionaries
 Never bomb buildings
 It attracts too much attention
 They never bomb buildings
 And I was sitting there with a headful of dark thoughts
 Like I sometimes get
 And suddenly everything cleared
 And I realized that the only purpose to revolution
 Is to be able to love who you want
 How you want
 When you want
 Where you want
 So I took off all my clothes
 Stole a boat
 Rowed out to the middle of a lake
 And I jumped in
 And I looked back at you and said
 Come on! Get wet!
 True revolutionaries
 Never bomb buildings
 True revolutionaries
 Never bomb buildings
 It attracts too much attention
 They never bomb buildings
 They never bomb buildings
 They never bomb buildings

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Readable chord sheet for True Revolutionary by Dan Bern

[G] [C] [G]  [G] [C] [G]

[C]Look, Ma,
They're gonna [G]fry Tim McVeigh
[D]She said that nice guy
Who was on the c[G]over of al[G7]l of those magazines?
[C]Why would they want to do a thing like that?
[G]I said well, he killed all those people [D]in Oklahoma City
She said [C]nonsense, [G]people don't kill people
[D]Car bombs kill [G]people[G7]
[C]And I said well, yeah, Ma But they gotta do something with [G]him
She said why d[D]on't they get Mike Tyson
To bite off both his e[G]ars?[G7]

And I say t[C/G]rue revolutionaries
[D]Never bomb [G]buildings [G7]
[C/G]True revolutionaries
[D]Never bomb [Em]buildings[C]
[G]It attracts [D]too much [Em]attention[C]
[G]They never [D]bomb [G]buildings

A little girl down my block
Was born with silicone in her breasts
Turned out her grandmother and her mother
Had both had the implants done
And, well, evolution took care of it this time around
And I wondered what it is about
So many women with big breasts
Make them look so sad
And I thought, well, maybe it has to do with the weight,
The burden they're asked to carry in the world
To feed it, to be the object of its desires
And I wondered what burdens the rest of us are carrying all the time
And I couldn't help thinking

True revolutionaries
Never bomb buildings
True revolutionareis
Never bomb buildings
It attracts too much attention
They never bomb buildings

And I decided to go out for a walk
And do nothing except
Look everybody I see in the eyes
And not be the first to avert my eyes
No matter what
And I was planning to be gone for ten minutes
But things started happening
And I didn't return for two years
By which time I was the heavyweight champion of the world
And the expectant father of sixteen children
By thirteen different women

I was in a fishing village in coastal Spain
It was Our Lady of Abortion Sunday afternoon
All the pregnant ladies in their first trimester
Filed before the priest to receive the blessing of
"Try again sometime, try again"

The old barber had dyed his hair green for the occasion
And pierced his nipples
And was riding his skateboard to the statue of Conan O'Brien
Where he was doing backflips for the little kids
Who threw coins given to them by their parents

A visiting lecturer
Achingly handsome
Had just finished giving a
"How to build bombs in your basement" seminar in the park
All the young girls put their notebooks away dreamily
And put dandelions in their hair

The chimpanzee who had managed to type out Hamlet three years before
Was sitting in the third floor office of the driver's license building
Typing out zoning ordinances
Typing out learner's permits
Bored and lonely

Pee Wee Herman was sitting in the central square in the grass
Naked and masturbating
While all the townspeople moved to him slowly
And kissed him softly
And sung lullabies in the grass

And in Berkeley
And in Greenwich Village
And in Paris
And in Scottsbluff, Nebraska
No one sits around funky little coffee shops anymore
Talking revolution
They get a Starbucks to go
They go back to their basketball games
Where they see who can jump higher
Who can jam
Who can take it to the rack
And they all wear baseball caps
'Cept they don't say Yankees or Dodgers or Cardinals anymore
They say Nike; Reebok; Adidas
Because the pro players don't play for teams anymore
They play for shoe companies
And the kids aren't fooled
They're just biding their time
Waiting for the millennium
When all the computers will crash
Because the best scientists in the world
Forgot to make them read zero

True revolutionaries
Never bomb buildings
True revolutionaries
Never bomb buildings
It attracts too much attention
They never bomb buildings

And I was sitting there with a headful of dark thoughts
Like I sometimes get
And suddenly everything cleared
And I realized that the only purpose to revolution
Is to be able to love who you want
How you want
When you want
Where you want
So I took off all my clothes
Stole a boat
Rowed out to the middle of a lake
And I jumped in
And I looked back at you and said
Come on! Get wet!

True revolutionaries
Never bomb buildings
True revolutionaries
Never bomb buildings
It attracts too much attention
They never bomb buildings
They never bomb buildings
They never bomb buildings

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