Toxic Mother by Cathal Coughlan
From Cathal Coughlan’s 2002 The Sky’s Awful Blue album. Written by Cathal Coughlan. No capo.
INTRO
[Am7]
VERSE 1
[Am7] Sleepy rich lakeside
[Am7] Town of bullion and [G6] scars
My [Dm7] doctor he tells me this thing is be [Bbmaj7] nign
But no [Am7] more late nights or ci [Bbmaj7] gars
VERSE 2
[Am7] I had no problems
[Am7] Til I fled from my [G6] home
Just [Abmaj7] death from the air and the [Ebm] rocket’s red glare
We were [Abmaj7] freelance providers of [Ebm] aid
Such as [Abmaj7] antidepressants and [Ebm] diesel and schnapps
We [Cm6] only take dollars or gold
You [Cm6] can’t trade us sex if you’re [G6] old
VERSE 3
[Am7]
[Am7] Down with tomorrow
The [Am7] things you do for a [G6] grand
The [Dm7] mayor puts a Polaroid [Bbmaj7] snap in my hand
And [Dm7] murmurs, “She lives on your [Bbmaj7] land”
VERSE 4
[Am7] “I have a problem
[Am7] In her belly it [G6] grows
It’s [Abmaj7] of no account but she [Abm7] won’t shut her mouth
[Abmaj7] She needs to be paci [Abm7] fied”
When [Abmaj7] curfew arrived we were [Ebm] walking her out
[Dm7] Blank though she shook and perspired
[Dm7] Blank-faced in our line of fire
INTERLUDE
[Gm] [G7] (x3)
[Gm] [Fm]
VERSE 5
[Am7]
We [Am7] let in a plane and a banker got off
Didn’t [Am7] look like the travelling [G6] kind
He re [Dm7] garded us sternly, asked [Bbmaj7] “How much you want?
Our [Am7] rates are the lowest you’ll [Bbmaj7] find”
VERSE 6
There was [Am7] some English gangster who called me “Comrade”
Had a [Am7] handler who smirked as he [G6] spoke
We [Abmaj7] promised them peace and pre [Ebm] tended to build
And we [Abmaj7] pissed off, officially [Ebm] broke
VERSE 7
I [Am7] dreamed of her grave in my warm bed last night
Of that [Am7] patch where the tall nettles [G6] grow
A [Dm7] plastic bag wrapped round a [Bbmaj7] rock marks the spot
Where [Am7] she and some others re [Bbmaj7] pose
VERSE 8
And I [Am7] clawed my way in til I lay by her side
And we [Am7] lay and we looked at the [G6] stars
And [Abmaj7] as they exploded and [Ebm] dimmed without trace
She [Abmaj7] joined in my passionate [Ebm] song
[Abmaj7] Tears finally came and ran [Ebm] all down my face
[Gm7] “Hail, toxic mother,” we sang
“Full of [Gm7] grace, toxic mother – Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”
FADE
[Gm7] [Dm7]