My Brother The Ape chords by They Might Be Giants

• Difficulty: Intermediate 💪

Key: D

Intro:

D G A7

Verse 1:
N.C.    D
Well, I got the invitation

That you sent to everyone

And I told you family picnics weren't exactly my idea of fun
       G
You replied that everyone but me said they were going to come
         D
Which is how you talked me into going to the reunion
A                                  G         N.C.
When you said everyone, you really meant it

Chorus:
               D
My brother the ape
                A/D
My brother the ape

Verse 2:
    D
I received the photos you sent

And I don't regret that I went

Or the sight of everybody stiffly posing under one tent
      G
But I don't feel I belong and I keep wanting to escape
      D
And I fail to see the likeness between me and my brother the ape

Hook:
Em
They all kept saying (they all kept saying)
G/D
How much we look alike (how much we look alike)
C             Em/B          A6
I don't think that we look alike at all (I don't think that we look alike at all)

Bridge:
                    D                  G
But I'll admit that I look more like a chimp
       D                       G
Than I look like my cousin the shrimp
      D                G
Or my distant kin the lichens
       D           G
Or the snowy egret or the moss
      G
And I find it hard to recognize
     G#dim7
Some relatives of ours
         D/A
Like the rotifer, the sycamore
                A7
Iguanas and sea stars

Chorus:
N.C.           D
My brother the ape
                 A/D
My brother the ape

Instrumental Break:
D
G
D

Hook:
Em           G/D
They say you don't get (they say you don't get)
C              Em/B
To choose your family (to choose your family)
Am             Em/G
But there's no other one to choose (but there's no other one to choose)

Bridge:
          G
So that's why I'm writing this now

And you can tell my sister the cow

That I meant to thank her for the gorgonzola

And I'll allow that I've been acting like a stranger

But you guys are all so strange
         D
Though I think of what I'm like

And I can see we're all the same
A                                     G          N.C.
So this time next year, we'll meet at my place

Chorus:
               G
My brother the ape
               D7  G
My brother the ape