Chords with lyrics
C majorC D MajorD
I was born with the charm of innocence
A augmentedA Bb majorBb
On my back like a cross
C majorC D MajorD
Thorns upon my forehead
A augmentedA Bb majorBb
Round my neck I wore it
C majorC
Sometimes a rabbit's claw
E MajorE
Sometimes an albatross
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
It began at a school that turned boys into gentlemen
G+G B minorBm
Then turned them on to debauchery
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
I was forced to my knees in front of these gentlemen
G+G B minorBm
If I refused they would torture me
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
On Sundays I'd stalk the Botanical Garden
G+G B minorBm
And under my uniform something would harden
FF E MajorE
Whenever I passed a girl of my own age
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
Or did it begin with au pair girls from Germany
G+G B minorBm
Paid by the hour to look after us?
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
Did it begin with that first opportunity
G+G B minorBm
To corner a stranger with nakedness?
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
Maybe the clinical way they undressed me
G+G B minorBm
Stayed with me and deeply distressed me
FF E MajorE
I think, at heart, I'm something of a prude
C majorC D MajorD
I was born with the charm of innocence
A augmentedA Bb majorBb
On my back like a cross
C majorC D MajorD
Thorns upon my forehead
A augmentedA Bb majorBb
Round my neck I wore it
C majorC
Sometimes a rabbit's claw
E MajorE
Sometimes an albatross
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
Then at eighteen I decided I wanted
G+G B minorBm
To be a commercial photographer
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
I rented a studio down by the docks
G+G B minorBm
Which I shared with a friendly pornographer
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
I photographed models in fluorescent light
G+G B minorBm
Whose veins were so blue and whose breasts were so white
FF E MajorE
I assumed, like the moon, women were blue cheese
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
When I left home I already had five years
G+G B minorBm
Of self abuse under my belt
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
I found certain women who'd let me try anything
G+G B minorBm
Just to find out how it felt
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
In some garish hotel room with vile decoration
G+G B minorBm
The wallpaper witnessed my first pollination
FF E MajorE
The paisley patterns witnessed an abortion
C majorC D MajorD
I was born with the charm of innocence
A augmentedA Bb majorBb
On my back like a cross
C majorC D MajorD
Thorns upon my forehead
A augmentedA Bb majorBb
Round my neck I wore it
C majorC
Sometimes a rabbit's claw
E MajorE
Sometimes an albatross
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
In the army they taught me to share the abuse
G+G B minorBm
That I'd kept up 'til then to myself
A augmentedA
There's nothing like killing
C# minorC#m G+G B minorBm
For coaxing a shy boy of twenty-one out of his shell
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
In the dark continent with a peace-keeping force
G+G B minorBm
I fell in with a bunch of Algerian whores
FF E MajorE
And promised them I'd try and keep in touch
BB EbmEbm
We met up again in the eighteenth arrondisement
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
I remember them well
BB EbmEbm
Their lank stringy hair and their big bulbous noses
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
Their unmistakable smell
BB EbmEbm
I'd approach all the ugliest, seediest jerks
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
And ask them to keep a young model in work
G+G F#F#
Some men, thank Christ, don't discriminate at all
C majorC D MajorD
I was born with the charm of innocence
A augmentedA Bb majorBb
On my back like a cross
C majorC D MajorD
Thorns upon my forehead
A augmentedA Bb majorBb
Round my neck I wore it
C majorC
Sometimes a rabbit's claw
E MajorE
Sometimes an albatross
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
I will pass my old age by a pale two-bar fire
G+G B minorBm
Patiently waiting to die
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
Twitching the lace as the schoolgirls go past
G+G B minorBm
Tracing a page of Bataille
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
And if you catch sight of my secondhand coat
G+G B minorBm
Leaving behind it a faint whiff of goat
FF E MajorE
Remember both of us are naked underneath
BB EbmEbm
I thought it would end with the first obscene phone call
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
The second professional kill
BB EbmEbm
But somehow detached from my actual behavior
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
This innocence burdens me still
BB EbmEbm
Up in the attic I pick up the brush
A augmentedA C# minorC#m
Paint in the crow's feet, paint out the blush
G+G F#F#
The face this portrait is of is still capable of
G+G F#F#
The face this portrait is supposed to be of is still capable of
G+G G/F# G/EG/E G/F# F#F#
The face this portrait is of is still capable of (Paint out the blush of shame)
G+G G/F# G/EG/E G/F# F#F#
The face this portrait is supposed to be of is still capable of (Paint out the blush of shame)
G+G G/F# G/EG/E G/F# F#F#
The face this portrait is of is still capable of (Paint out the blush of shame)
G+G G/F# G/EG/E G/F# F#F#
The face this portrait is supposed to be of is still capable of (Paint out the blush of shame)
G+G G/F# G/EG/E G/F# F#F#
The face this portrait is of is still capable of (Paint out the blush of shame)
G+G G/F# G/EG/E G/F# F#F#
The face this portrait is supposed to be of is still capable of (Paint out the blush of shame)