Todd Snider - The ballad of the kingsmen

The ^GKingsmen came ^Dtogether in a garage,^C they could hardly even play But ^Gthey practiced night and day^D pretty soon they got to where they could ^Creally play that song Louie, Louie So, ^Gthey saved up all the money from the ^Dshows, went in to one of them ^Cstudios and gave their version

^GNow, I^D don't know the words to that ^Csong Louie, Louie and I'm pretty sure the singer for the ^GKingsmen didn't know ‘em either,^D if he did know ‘em he didn't^C get ‘em right on the record Cause on the record they sound jumbled in his ^Gjaw? It says, ^Dme think of me ^Cgirl oh so co^Dnstantly Ah^Gmayaaah ^Dmakaaaah aahh ^Cooohoooh ^Daaaaah ^GWell, that last part ^Dscared everybody from the ^CPTA to the FBI You see, ^Gthe kids had been going kind of ^Dcrazy lately and it seemed like ^Cnobody could figure out why, So they deci^Gded to form a coalition, ^Dlaunch an investigation, you know for the ^Cchildren,

^GTo figure out the ^Dwords to Louie, Louie

It's the ^Gfeel ^Cgood^G hit of this ^Cendless summer ^GIt gets these ^A7kids out of con^Dtrol ^CSingin a^Dlong to that ^Gstar spangled ^Cbummer, ^GHail, ^Dhail rock and ^Groll

^GMarilyn Manson’s^D real name isn't even ^CMarilyn Manson, he's a skinny public high school ^GKid from Florida,^D not some monster from ^Cout of this world and like of a lot other skinny long hair public ^GHigh school kids^D he was sick of getting beaten up by the^C pulling guard all week only to go out on the weekend,

^GQuarterback get all the girls^D so, he ^Cformed a band man Now' ^Ghe gets all the ^Dgirls, a ^Cfew years later a couple of latchkey kids go tragically ^GMad and everybody's standing around ^Dthe television store at the mall trying to ^Cfigure out what went wrong,

you think the ^Glife of a kid going to high school^D could've gotten so bad this other guy says ^Cnah, ^CIt's just the words to one of them goddamn Marilyn Manson songs, you know the one

It's the ^Gfeel ^Cgood^G hit of this ^Cendless summer ^GIt gets these ^A7kids out of con^Dtrol ^CSingin a^Dlong to that ^Gstar spangled ^Cbummer, ^GHail, ^Dhail rock and ^Groll

You ^Gknow, every ten ^Dyears or so our country and ^Csome other little country, we start firing all of our newest weapons At ^Geach other for some reas^Don or another, right or wro^Cng, like it or not, it happens, and when it happens People get ^Gshot and when people get ^Dshot, they show it on ^Ctv a lot every night at six o clock And you don't even ^Ghave to be eighteen to see it^D you don't even have to be in ^Cfirst grade,

They ^Gtell him he'll need to thrive,^D in a world where only the ^Cstrong will survive, so he's taught the art of more To comp^Gare to and to keep score^D Monday thru Friday while he ^Cstares at the floor til' Sunday

^GSchool once more only ^Dthis time they make him wear a suit and a ^Ctie and listen to some guy who claims to know where people go When ^Gthey die tell him that only the ^Dmeek are gonna inherit the ^Cearth Well sh*t, by this time the kid doesn't

Is ^Gworth, now brothers and sisters^D I am only one guy ^Cand I don't even know the words to that song Louie, Louie ^Gbut I can tell you right now ^Dwithout batting an eye that the ^Cnext time some latchkey kid goes wrong It ^Caint gonna be cause that Eminem gets to say the word Fag in his song And ^GI'm not trying to preach to ya eithe^Dr, I'm just trying to sing to ^Cya too, you know string

^GHey kids.^D.. ^C Lets get it ^Gon, ^{D C} Lets get it^G on ^{D C}