St. Wellbeing Axe by Cathal Coughlan
From the Cathal Coughlan’s 2021 Song of Co-Aklan album. Written by Cathal Coughlan. No capo.
Note: Busy song, competing progressions, &cetera. To be perfectly honest my goal here was not to get it note-perfect but to get down something playable – to be able to run through this strange number with reasonable (“in the ballpark”) accuracy. Maybe I’m close, maybe I’m 100 miles away. Whatever the case, I invite you to go through the song yourself, and perhaps at some point send me what you feel is a more accurate representation of the chords.
VERSE 1
The [Gm] Dim Star [F7] Liner is [Gm] moored in the [F7] city
[Gm] Down in the [F7] water by the [Gm] bottom of the [F7] 50 storey [Gm] [F7]
[Gm] Ropewalk [F7] entry for the [Gm] two-legged [F7] cases
[Gm] Tear off a [F7] ticket, your [Gm] choice of dark [Cm] spaces
Be [F7] low river [Cm] level, in [Gm] windowless cabins
In our [F7] battered [Cm] selves we sit
The so-called [F7] brave, we crave
Well [Cm] being [Gm]
Well [Cm] being [Gm] [Cm]
[Cm] Wellbeing [Cm]
Well [Gm] being [Cm] [Gm] [Cm]
VERSE 2
Seems my [F7] body’s [Cm] had enough of me
And it’s [F7] sneaking a [Cm] round in the [Gm] shallows
[F7] Sprouted a [Cm] clay boy who lives in my guts
In a [F7] soft [Cm] room without [Cm7] windows
It’s no [F7] saviour, this [Cm] one, kill if you will
[F7] They’ll only [Cm] build you a [Gm] nother
When he [F7] takes his [Cm] leave, the waters will cleave
The [F7] word on his [Cm] forehead is [Cm7] “Truth”
That word again – [C] “Truth” [Bb]
[F7] [Cm] Wellbeing [F7] [Cm] [Gm]
BRIDGE
[Dm7] Lights of the city cast crystal on the waters be [Fm6] low (Wellbeing)
[Dm7] Down to the water where the saints bother sinners, we [Fm6] go
[Dm7] Down to the water now life has apparently [Fm6] flown
[Dm7] Down to the water come the winds and the rippling [C#m] cold (Well [Cm7] being)
VERSE 3
For [F7] get the [Cm] scribbled fragments
Their [F7] course was [Cm] damned and [Gm] artless
While [F7] those I [Cm] left behind
Should feel [F7] free to [Cm] burn my [Cm7] harvest (Wellbeing)
[Cm] Glide, though your [Gm] heart is breaking ([Cm] [Gm] [Cm] Wellbeing)
[Cm] Well [Gm] being [Cm] [Gm] [Cm] Wellbeing
OUTRO
[Cm] [Gm] [Cm] [Gm] [Cm] (repeating)
Normality dissolving, a plate of sharps and potions (Wellbeing)
The fall of this narrator fitfully approaches (Wellbeing)
This narrator – see him now, his misdeeds strewn about him
This narrator, with his secret Judas body, begs his legs to (Wellbeing) help him leave
In the winter twilight bleed, basted again in (Wellbeing) diesel
To walk within specific fencing at the bottom of the 50 (Wellbeing) storeys [C]