Brunceling’s Song by the Fatima Mansions
From the Fatima Mansions’ 1994 Lost in the Former West album. Written by Cathal Coughlan. No capo.
INTRO
[D] [A] [E] (x4)
VERSE 1
[D] James Jesus [F] Angleton sells [G] sunlamps door to door
In this [D] so-called peacetime even [F] spooks fight to stay a [G] live
[D] I don’t much [F] like him, but I [G] sit and mind his car
He says, [D] “Brunceling, [F] where to [G] now?
This [D] global [F] suburb’s [G] ours”
[G]
VERSE 2
[D] They said a [F] dapt and sometime [G] back I think I snapped
But it’s [D] no big deal, I [F] would not trade my [G] luck
[D] I have no [F] system now, I just [G] drift until I’m found;
[D] “Brunceling, [F] hand me [G] down
[D] A new [F] slogan” now
[G] Penury has set us free
[D] No [E7] thing, [D] no [E7] thing, [D] nothing is [E] true
[D] No [E7] thing, [D] no [E7] thing, [D] nothing is [E] true
An ass [Bm7] assin’s [Em] bullet which has [Bm7] lodged in my [Em] neck
Picks up [Bm7] Radio [Em] Kabul and it [Bm7] bores me to [Em] death
[D] No [E] thing, [D] no [E] thing, [D] nothing is [E] true (x2)
VERSE 3
[D] “I know Kho [F] meini, John Wilkes [G] Booth and the Jackson 5”
The [D] old man roared as [F] I poured him into his [G] bed
“Why, [D] they control the [F] bourbon runs from Bi [G] alystok to Brunei”
[D] Brunceling, [F] you’re like [G] me,” he said
“They [D] fear us [F] cause we ac [G] cept no blame
And we’re too [G] fucking old to change
[B] Too many hatreds for making amends
[B] Too many favours for friends of dead friends
Oh, their [A] mumbled thanks came cheap to them
[B] Too many marksmen hit on the knolls
[B] Too many alibis always to hold
I’m a [A] sad old joke, for [G6] get I spoke…”
[G] [A] (x8)
[B] Open the vein, open the vein
[B] Open the vein, wider the vein
Let [A] in more rain, let in more rain
[B] Sever the phoneline, sever the head
[B] Seeing in white, green, yellow and red
I [A] think he’s dead, I think he’s dead
[D] No [E] thing, [D] no [E] thing, [D] nothing is [E] true (x2)
Old [Bm7] friends now re [Em] ject me for mis [Bm7] judgements I’ve [Em] made
[Bm7] Some are in [Em] power, some in [Bm7] flyover [Em] graves
[D] No [E] thing, [D] no [E] thing, [D] nothing is [E] true (x3)
And [D] tell [A] me, [E] stiff, whose little [D] baby [A] were [E] you?