Something Bad by the Fatima Mansions
From the Fatima Mansions’ 1992 Valhalla Avenue album. Written by Cathal Coughlan. No capo.
I was raised to expect continuity. Instead I get this …
[E]
Ah, the [E] monster has red [F#m7] hair
The [E] monster has green [G6] eyes
She [E] laughs and bites her [F#m7] quarry’s nose
As she [E] pulls herself a [G6] stride
Her [E] double-jointed hips now [B7] do their tricks
And you can [C#m7] hear his plaintive [D] yells
From the [E] plane-crash craters in the [F#m7] Scottish hill
To the [E] burning oil [G6] wells
[E7]
[A] Something bad is [B] giving birth
To a [G6] thing which won’t melt [D] to your touch
[A] Something bad is [B] giving birth
To [G6] something worse and it’s [D] gonna [E7] hurt
His [E] Reebok shoes let [F#m7] in the rain
And he [E] coughs into the [G6] dawn
At he [E] searches for space on the [F#m7] synagogue wall
To [E] draw swastikas [G6] on
Job des [E] criptions change on the [F#m7] firing range
All [C#m7] generals are [D] friends
So it’s [E] down to the dole with the [F#m7] molotovs
It’s [E] problem time a [G6] gain
[E7]
[A] Something bad is [B] giving birth
To a [G6] thing which won’t melt [D] to your touch
[A] Something bad is [B] giving birth
To [G6] something worse and it’s [D] gonna [E7] hurt [D] [E7]
[E7] You built the metal birds who shrink the skies
[E7] And bring your waitress from the other side of a world
[E7] All these birds bringing death
[E7] You find all of our good, there’s only death left
[E7] Big black hawk swinging low
[E7] Over the rat-run streets of the English ghetto
[E7] Clean spirit of the island, home at last
[E7] Come on, come on, come on – crash!
One man felt ashamed running guns and cocaine
For his short-term gain, so every one of us must pay
In his New World Order, you can have some nerve gas with your air
Thanks to the CIA pussy in the President’s chair!
[A] Something bad is [B] giving birth
See, in the [G6] sky it’s belly [D] bursts
[A] Something bad is [B] giving birth
And calls for [G6] wounds to [D] slake its thirst
[A] Something bad is [B] giving birth
No more de [G6] cay, no more [D] dirt
[A] Something bad is [B] giving birth
In [G6] therefore’s name it [D] stalks the earth
[E7] Do you feel you can deal?
[E7] Can you fuck!