The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind chords by Ben Folds Five

Tuning: Standard (E A D G B E)

Intro:
Bb C Dm C/E
Bb C
Bb C Dm C/E
Bb C

Verse 1:
Bb                         C              Dm
Apehead's brother wants to beat up Paul
     C/E             Bb       C
The boys have gone to watch
Bb                      C            Dm
Some of the girls are down at the mall
C/E                  Bb   C
Justine's got cherry cola and scotch
Bb C Dm C/E
Bb C
Bb                        C             Dm
Later on it's everyone 'round to Bec's
   C/E                       Bb      C
Her parents are away in New York

Prechorus:
Bb                    C
But Sara, well, she just can't bear
    Dm                               C/E
The stupidity, the boredom, the grind
     Bb                     C
She stays at school so that she can hear
      Dm          C/E       Bb
The sound of the life of the mind

Chorus:
         Eb          F
And it's noisy out there
   Dm              Gm Gm/F
It rocks me like a mother
Eb              F
Rosa Parks and DNA
Ebmaj7           F5 Fsus4
Joan of Arc and JFK
F        Eb        F
But it's noisy up there
   Dm              Gm F
It rocks me like a mother

Post-Chorus:
Bb       Csus
Oh, ohh, oh, ohh
Dm         C/E
Oh, oh, oh
Bb      C
Oh, oh, oh

Verse 2:
      Bb                        C           Dm
She's cut 'em all out of her social circle
C/E                     Bbsus2  Csus2
Won't introduce them to Lincoln or Frost
         Bb                         C              Dm
Doesn't want to let them get to know Keats or Studs Terkel
     C/E                 Bb5       C
They'll never know what they have lost

Prechorus:
    Bb                C
But Sara, well, she just can't bear
       Dm                             C/E
The stupidity, the boredom, the grind
    Bbmaj7                   C
She stays at school so that she can hear
     Dm           C/E        Bbmaj7
The sound of the life of the mind

Chorus 2:
         Eb             F
And it's noisy out there
    Dm             Gm F
It rocks me like a mother
  Eb             F
Copernicus and Fortune's Wheel
Ebmaj7                F5   Fsus    F
Plato, Glenn Gould and the New Deal
         Eb         F
And it's noisy up there
Dm                 Gm   F  C/E
It rocks me like a mother

Bridge:
                  Ebmaj13                  C/E
Sara already knows pretty soon she'll be leaving
                       Ebmaj13
Once she's hoovered up whatever she can find
                    C/E
She doesn't want to hear about
               Ebmaj13                      C/E
Pregnancies, phone fights, TV, take-outs, half-sex, weddings
     Ebmaj13                          C
The sound of the life she'll leave behind

Solo:
Oh!
Ebmaj7 F Dm Eb/G
Ebmaj7 F Dm7 Ebmaj7

Chorus 3:
Ebmaj7                      F
Yeah, it's noisy out there
   Dm7             Gm7 F6
It rocks me like a mother
Ebmaj7   F
Oh, ohh, oh, ohh
Dm7        Ebmaj7
Oh, oh, oh
         Ebmaj7         F
And it's noisy out there
   Dm7             Gm Gm/F
It rocks me like a mother
Ebmaj7   F6
Oh, ohh, oh, ohh
Dm7     Ebmaj7
Oh, oh, oh