Mr. Baby by the Fatima Mansions
From the Fatima Mansions’ 1990 Viva Dead Ponies album. Written by Cathal Coughlan. Capo on 1st fret.
INTRO
[F#] [E] [F#]
VERSE 1
[F#] See the priest in gleaming nappies
Gurgling and burping child at [E] play [F#]
[F#] Signing warrants, blessing firing squads
Are the pleasures of this baby’s [E] day [F#]
In a [F#] street where broken buildings fall
On burning people ten foot tall
On stockinged knees, not all, not all
Just those who fight in bonfire light
In [C#] spite of all the crowds who call
Their [B7] hero, a goldfish jockey
Their hero remains
CHORUS 1
Mr. [E] Baby [Em] [G6] [A]
Mr. [E] Baby [Em] [G6] [A]
You know you know he’s really [E] crazy [Em] [G6] [A]
Mr. [E] Baby spills it [Em] by the ton
He [G6] wraps his mouth around his gun
He says, [A] “Scared? You’re not the only one.”
VERSE 2
[F#] Did they raise their fists to greet you all
When they saw the colour of your [E] skin? [F#]
[F#] Did they laugh and say “go home”
When you told them of the trouble you were [A] in?
You [D] know they [A] did
[D] God damn right they [A] did [D] [A] [D] [E]
[F#] Your complaint is my mandate
And your shoulders are my ladder (straight)
What they cannot defuse they must excuse
And what they must allow they soon will [C#] bow to
And they will [B7] kneel
They will [B7] kneel
CHORUS 2/FADE
To Mr. [E] Baby [Em] [G6] [A]
Mr. [E] Baby [Em] [G6] [A]
You know, you know, you really [E] slay me [Em] [G6] [A]
Mr. [E] Baby in the burning bushfire
[Em] Basement by the crater brook
[G6] Reads from his ancient [Bm7] hate-book
[E] [Em] [G6] [A]
Mr. Baby
Oh, your own Mr. Baby
Mr. Baby
Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby