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The Short Answer

Billy Bragg

Text File

#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------##
From: gilbert@mis.gla.ac.uk (Gilbert McErlane)


The Short Answer  -  Billy Bragg
--------------------------------

  -  trans by gilbert@salyut.mis.gla.ac.uk
              (lyrics from cs.uwp.edu)

Not entirely happy about these chords but it's ok.
Typical Bragg snappy drops on the bass strings with
the occassional chank on the trebles.

It's capo'd at 2 or 3 - I'll just note the chords as though
they were open.

C  332010
C2 x20010
Am x02210
G  320003
G2 355433
G3 055433
A  577655
Em 022000
F  003211
Dm xx0231

P1 (Main Pattern) C C2 Am G - C G C

   P1
Between Marx and marzipan in the dictionary there was Mary
   P1
Between the deep blue sea and the devil that was me
G2       A              G2            G3
If ever anyone could help me with my obsession with
   G2      G3       A            P1
The young Susannah York it was Mary

In my pink pyjamas she asked me for something
I gave her the short answer
She read our stars out load
And I knew then that we should have gone sailing
But we stayed home instead
Fighting on the waterbed
Like the honeymoon couple on drugs
Me and Mary

What happened in the past
Remained a mystery of natural history
She should have been the last
But she was just the latest
If she wanted to be a farmer's wife
I would endure that muddy life
I would dig for victory

(faster)         Am
And the sound of happy couples
         Em
Coupling happily in the dark
      F             C
While you and I sat down to tea
I remember you said to me
      Am
That no amount of poetry
Would mend this broken heart
      G2
But you can put the Hoover round
      Dm                     (don't know riff here)
If you want to make a start

(verse pattern)
All my friends from school
Introduce me to their spouses
While I'm left standing here
With my hands down the front of my trousers
I just don't know what's to be done
I wonder sometimes how did Dad meet Mum
And how did they conceive of me
Tell me Mary

The boys who came to the shop
Always made her laugh much more than I did
When I told her this must stop
She didn't bat an eyelid
She said you know honey it's such a shame
You'll never be any good at this game
You bruise too easily
So said Mary

Her two brothers took me out
Of circulation for the duration
So we went our separate ways but does she still love me
She still has my door key
Like a bully boy in a Benetton shop
You're never happy with what you've got
Till what you've got has gone
Sorry Mary

Finish F G C

**
Gil McErlane    Management Information Services - Physical Resources Team
                University of Glasgow
                E-mail: gilbert@salyut.mis.gla.ac.uk

"If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the precipitate"
                                                      - Steven Wright