Chords with lyrics
Tuning: Standard (E A D G B E)
Difficulty: Intermediate
This Vicious Cabaret
Verse:
E MajorE
They say that there's a broken light for every heart on Broadway
E MajorE
They say that life's a game, then they take the board away
E MajorE
They give you masks and costumes and an outline of the story
E MajorE
Then leave you all to improvise their vicious cabaret...
BB D MajorD E MajorE D MajorD E MajorE
In no-longer-pretty cities there are fingers in the kitties
D MajorD E MajorE FF E MajorE D MajorD E MajorE D MajorD
There are warrants, forms, and chitties and a jackboot on the stair
E MajorE BB D MajorD BB D MajorD
There’s Sex and death and human grime, in monochrome for one thin dime
BB E MajorE
At least the trains all run on time but they don't go anywhere
F#F# BB D MajorD
Facing their responsibilities, either on their backs or on their knees
BB F#F# BB D MajorD
There are ladies who just simply freeze and dare not turn a- way
A augmentedA BB C majorC D MajorD C majorC A augmentedA BB C majorC D MajorD C majorC
And the widows who refuse to cry will be dressed in garter and bow-tie
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And be taught to kick their legs up high in this vicious cabaret
Chorus:
BB A#A# BB
At last! The 1998 Show!
BB A#A# BB
The ballet on the burning stage
BB A#A# BB
The documentary seen
BB A#A# BB
Up on the fractured screen
BB A#A# A augmentedA
The dreadful poem scrawled upon the crumpled page...
BB D MajorD E MajorE G+G E MajorE
There's a policeman with an honest soul
D MajorD E MajorE G+G E MajorE
Who’s seen whose head is on the pole
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And he grunts and fills his briar bowl with a feeling of unease
Verse:
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Then he briskly frisks the torn remains
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For a fingerprint or crimson stains
A augmentedA BB C majorC D MajorD C majorC A augmentedA BB A augmentedA
And endevours to ignore the chains that he walks in to his knees
C majorC D MajorD E MajorE F#F# BB E MajorE
While his master in the dark nearby inspects the hands, with brutal eye
BB E MajorE F#F# BB D MajorD
That have never brushed a lover's thigh but have squeezed a nation's throat
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And he hungers in his secret dreams
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For the harsh embrace of cruel machines
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But his lover is not what she seems
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And she will not leave a note
Chorus:
BB A#A# BB
At last! The 1998 Show!
BB A#A# BB
The Situation Tragedy
BB A#A# BB
Grand Opera slick with soap
BB A#A# BB
Cliffhangers with no hope
BB A#A# A augmentedA
The water-colour in the flooded gallery...
BB D MajorD E MajorE G+G E MajorE
There's a girl who'll push but will not shove
D MajorD E MajorE G+G E MajorE
And she's desperate for her father's love
D MajorD E MajorE D MajorD G+G E MajorE D MajorD E MajorE D MajorD E MajorE
She believes the hand beneath the glove may be one she needs to hold
Verse:
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Though she doubts her host's moralities
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She decides she is more at ease
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In the Land Of Doing-As-You-Please
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Than outside in the cold
BB E MajorE
But the backdrops peel and the sets give way
F#F# BB D MajorD
And the cast get eaten by the play
BB E MajorE
There's a murderer at the Matinee,
F#F# BB D MajorD
There are dead men in the aisles
A augmentedA BB D MajorD BB
And the patrons and the actors too
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Are uncertain if the show is through
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And with side-long looks await their cue, but the frozen mask just smiles
Chorus:
BB A#A# BB
At last! The 1998 Show!
BB A#A# BB
The torch-song no one ever sings!
BB A#A# BB
The curfew chorus line!
BB A#A# BB
The comedy divine!
BB A#A# A augmentedA
The bulging eyes of puppets strangled by their strings!
E MajorE
There's thrills and chills and girls galore, sing-songs and surprises!
E MajorE
There's something hear for everyone, reserve your seat today!
E MajorE
There's mischief and malarkies but no queers or yids or darkies
E MajorE
Within this bastard's carnival, this vicious cabaret!