Ramshackle Glory - From here to utopia song for the desperate

^Amwell, i’m afraid that the circles i’ve b^Eeen drinking myself aren’t big enough for the vowels tha^Amt i try to fi^Gt inside o^Ef them. ^Amwhen i was young, i drank too much, and i’d be^E lying if i said i didn’t feel so goddamn young toni^Amght; maybe too ^Gyoung to ask what’s on m^Ey mind. ^Flike: if freedom means ^Amdoing what you want (well), ^Edon’t you gotta wan^Amt something? ^Fand won’t you tell me that w^Ame want something more than just mor^Ee beer?

^Amwell, i’ve been listening to mino^Er threat records all day, and shit if i do not know every word. ^Ami sing ^Galong as i tie ^Eoff. ^Amand ian screams he’s “out of step”^E as i throw the cotton into the spoon, draw up into the syringe. ^Ami’ll know just what h^Ge means until i hit ^Ea vein. F Am E but a^Amfter that i won’t have to bother with knowing who i am, for a while at least. ^Fin a moment the whole ^Amworld is gonna melt around me, ^Eand i’ll swear i don’t miss it as a i lie to you tonight. ^Cbecause i’m^E afraid to look th^Ame world in th^Fe eye. ^Cif nothing’^Es gonna change, wel^Aml, then i’d rat^Fher die. ^Cand i’m too unemployed t^Eo organize a union; i’^Amm too intoxicate^Fd to tear down a building. ^Ci’m too hopeless t^Eo look for a solution; i’^Amm afraid that if i found one, i’^Fd be out of excuses for th^Ce way i waste away in the ^Egutters that i chose like ^Amfashion accessories to go ^Fwith my dirty clothes. i ^Chaven’t bathed in months, but yo^Eu know it’s not because i’v^Ame been fighting bourgeois morals: i’m just^F lazy and i’m young.

^Ami’ve seen the best minds of my gen^Eeration dying drunk or high from the rooftops to the parking lots, ^Amstomped to death in w^Gest philadelphian s^Equats. ^Amthey’ve got me waiting on a day when we ca^En say “fuck the police!” with a little bit of integrity, ^Amwhen it will mean: “i??^G?ve got your back if you’ve^E got mine!” F Am E give me a^Am scene where i believe in more than bad hair cuts, guilt, and misery. ^Fi don’t know where i fit between th^Ame vegans and the nihilists. ^Ethat might be the first thing i’ve said that wasn’t a lie tonight. C E Am because there’s gotta b^Fe something more than lying in the front yard, naked, screaming at the constellations. C E Am i want somet^Fhing more than an apology to say when i look the world in the eye. i’ll tell you, man^C, my friend william came to me wit^Eh a message of hope. it wen^Amt: “fuck you and everythin^Fg that you think you know. C E ^Amif you don?^F??t step outside the things that you believe they’re gonna kill you.” he said: ?^C??no one’s gonna stop you f^Erom dying young, and miserable, ^Amand right, but if you want something ^Fbetter, you gotta put that shit aside.” C E Am i thought about how for thous^Fands of years there have been people who told us that things can’t go on like this: ^Cfrom jesus chris to the ^Ediggers, from malthus to ^Amzerzan, from karl marx to^F huey newton, but the shit goes ^Con and on and ^Eon and on and ^Amon and on and ^Fon and on x 3? (first time short, second time strum, end on C)

^Gnow, i’m not saying tha^Ft we can’t change the world, because ^Ceverybody ^Edoes at least a ^Amlittle bit of t^Fhat. ^Cbut i won’t^E shit myself^Am: the way i’m living i^Fs a temper tantrum C E Am and i need so^Fmething else, need something else, need something else to stay alive.

and on the ni^Amght that i play my last show, i’ll be singing so loud that my heart explodes. ^Fand i’ll be singing, an^Amd i’ll be singing: we ^Eare free! ^Foh, but won??^Am?t you promise me that w^Ee won’t ever forget wha^Amt the means? ^Fi know it’s hard t^Amo give a shit sometime^Es, but promise me we’ll always try. ^Fbecause i don’t wann^AMa hate you, and i don’t wa^Enna hate me, ^Fand i don’^Amt wanna have to hat^Ee everything anymore.