The Decline

[Intro]
Am F C G
Am
C
G/B
   Fuck no!
Am E/A C Cmaj7 D

[Verse 1]
A                    G6         D
Where are all the stupid people from?
Dm Am    F                 C     G
     And how'd they get to be so dumb?
C                             G/B
 Bred on purple mountain range
                          Gm/A#
Feed amber waves of grains
                       F/A         F
To lesser human beings,   zero feelings

[Verse 2]
Am
  (Blame it on)
F Am        F                C
    Human nature, man's destiny
F                           C
Blame it on the greediocracy
        G
Fear of God
            A#
The fear of change
            F
The fear of truth
C
Add the Bill of Rights,
                   F
subtract the wrongs
G#
(There's no answers)
C                                    F
Memorize and sing star spangled songs
G#
(When the questions?)
C                G
Aren't ever asked
           Am                     F
Is anybody learning from the past?
      C            G             F E
We're living in united stagnation

[Interlude]
Am F G E
Am F G E

[Verse 3]
Am                  G
Father, what have I done?
  C         G/B Am
I took that .22
  F         C        G
A gift to me from you
   Dm                    Am
To bed with me each night
        F                  C
Kept it clean, polished it well
F                   C       G/B       F
Cherished every cartridge, every shell
Am                        F
Down, by the creek, under brush,
under dirt
          G                    Am
There's a carcass of my second kill
Down, by the park
      F
Under stone, under pine
          G                     Am
There's a carcass of my brother William
         F
Brother, where have you gone to?
                                C
I swear, I never thought I could
I see so many times
                      Dm
They told me to shoot straight
Don't pull the trigger, squeeze
                       C
That will insure a kill
A kill is what you want?
                 F     C F C F C
A kill is why we breed?

[Interlude]
D A/C# Am/C G D G D G
D A/C# Am/C
G D G D G D   D                     A/C#
          The Christians love their guns

[Verse 4]
    Am/C         G D G D G
The church and NRA
     D              A/C#
Pray for their salvations
     Am/C          G     D G D G
Prey on  the lower faiths
E                      B/D#
 The story book's been read
                       Bm/D
And every line believed
A E A E A E
                  B/D#
Curriculum's been set 
           Bm/D
Logic is a threat
                   A      E A E A
Reason searched and seized

[Break]
E E7 A Am
E E7 A Am

[Interlude]
E B A E
C#m A B

[Verse 5]
E                             A
Jerry spent some time in Michigan
Am E                 C#m
   A twenty year vacation,
      F#m              B
after all he had a dime
E                    B/D#           C#m
A dime is worth a lot    more in Detroit
B  A              E
 A dime in California,
  A                 B
a twenty dollar fine
E B A E
C#m A B
E                                A
Jerry only stayed a couple months
Am E                 C#m               F#m                 B
   It's hard to enjoy   yourself while bleeding out the ass
  E            B/D#               C#m
Asphyxiation is    simple and fast
B A                 E             A                    B
  It beats seventeen fun years of being someone's bitch
      E
Don't think

[Verse 6]
           Bm/D
Drink your wine
                   A/C#
Watch the fire burn
                 A
His problems not mine
                       E
Just be that model citizen

[Interlude]
B A E B A E A
E   A
 Ahh
B A E A E A
B A

[Bridge]
E
 I wish I had a schilling
E7                    A
  For every senseless killing
    Am
I'd buy a government
E
 America's for sale
E7                            A
  And you can get a good deal on it
    Am
And make a healthy profit
   E                   C
Or maybe, tear it apart
A             E
 Start with assumption
                          C
That a million people are smart
A             Em
 Smarter than one

[Theme]
C D G G/F#
Em C D G
G/F#

[Interlude]
Em C D Em
C D Em B
C G Em B
C G

[Verse 7]
Em
                B
Serotonin's gone
         C               G
She gave up, drifted away
Em          Bm/D                    A/C#
  Sara fled,    thought process gone
C                D                G
 She left her answering machine on
Em                 Bm/D              A/C#
  The greeting left    spoken sincere
C        D                     G
 Messages no one will ever hear
Am             C             G
  Ten thousand messages a day
              D                 Am
A million more transmissions lay
          C                 G
Victims of the laissez faire
Gm Am                C                  G
     Ten thousand voices, a hundred guns
            D                  A
A hundred decibels turns to one
           C              G
One bullet, one empty head
Em                       D
  Now with Serotonin gone
Ahh
C G/B Am G

[Interlude]
E C G/B Am G E C G/B Am
G E C G/B Am G E C G/B Am
G E

[Verse 8]
C
 The man who used to speak
   E
Performs a cute routine
G/D                        A/C#
   Feel a little patronized
           C
Don't feel bad
                             G
They found a way inside your head
                      D
And you feel a bit misled
                         A
It's not that they don't care, yeah
C                       E
 The television's put a thought inside your head
G/D                     A/C#
   Like a Barry Manilow,    jingle
    C                          G
I'd like to teach the world to sing
                D
In perfect harmony
                  A
A symphonic blank stare, yeah
C                    E             D C
 It doesn't make you care (Make you  care)
                         E             D C
Not designed to make you care (Make you  care)
                          E               D C
They're betting you won't care (You won't)

[Guitar Solo]
C E C Am
G C D G Em C G/B Am
G E

[Break]
E D E D
E D E D

[Verse 9]
C       G     D       Em
Place a wager on your greed
  C     Em      D
A wager on your pride
C    G          D         Em  C         Em   D
 Why try to beat them when  a million others tried?
C            Em
 (We are the whore)
G               D
 Intellectually spayed
C            Em
 (We are the queer)
G                      D
 Dysfunctionally raised

[Theme]
Em C D G
G/F# Em C D
G G/F#

[Break]
Em E G#m E
G#m
E                              G#m
 One more pill to kill the pain
E                              G#m
 One more pill to kill the pain
E                              C
 One more pill to kill the pain
D                 A
Living through conformity
E G#m E G#m
E                               G#m
 One more prayer to keep me safe
E                               G#m
 One more prayer to keep us warm
E                               C
 One more prayer to keep us safe
        D          A
There's gonna be a better place
E B D

[Verse 10]
A                             E
 Lost the battle, lost the war
                                B
Lost the things worth living for
                              D
Lost the will to win the fight
                              A
One more pill to kill the pain
              F#m
Na na na na na
              D
La na na na na
              E
Na na na na na
              A
Na na na na na
                                       F#m
The going get tough, the tough get debt
                                 D
Don't pay attention, pay the rent
                              E
Next of kins pay for your sins
                              A
A little faith should keep us safe

[Verse 11]
Dm F C E
Dm F C E
Dm F
Save us
C
 The human, existence
E
 Is failing, resistance
Dm
  Essential, the future
F
 Written off, the odds are
C
Astronomically against us
E
 Only moron and genius
Dm
  Would fight a losing battle
F
 Against the super ego
     C                           E
When giving in is so damn comforting

[Verse 12]
          Dm              F
And so we go, on with our lives
            C                 E
We know the truth, but prefer lies
             Am            C
Lies are simple, simple is bliss
    Dm                               F
Why go against tradition when we can?
        C                E
Admit defeat, live in decline
Am                             F
Be the victim of our own design
           Dm               F
The status quo, built on suspect
C               G/B                     Am
Why would anyone   stick out their neck?
          F
Fellow members
                G
Club "We've Got Ours"
    C                G/B               Am
I'd like to introduce   you to our host
         F                 Fm
He's got his, and I've got mine
            C
Meet The Decline

[Theme]
Em C D G
G/F# Em C D
G G/F# Em C
D G G/F# Em
C D G G/F#
Em C D G
G/F# Em C D
G G/F# Em C
D G G/F#

[Outro]
Em
C           D
 We are the queer
G   G/F#    Em
 We are the whore
C      D
 Ammunition
G   G/F#      Em
 In the class war
C           D
 We are worker
G   G/F#     Em
 We love our queen
C        D
 We sacrifice
G      G/F#    Em
 We're soylent green
C           D
 We are the queer
G   G/F#    Em
 We are the whore
C      D
 Ammunition
G   G/F#      Em C D G G/F# F#m D E A E/G# F#m D E A E/G# F#m D E A E/G#
 In the class war

[Fade Out]
F#m D E A
E/G# F#m D E
A E/G# F#m D
E A E/G# F#m
D E A E/G#
F#m D E A
E/G# F#m