The Main riff is a muted G to C

Verse 1:
G - C
One fine day near the end of the tax year
C
Mr Richards was gripped by a new fear
D         Am     C   D            G - C
Who would be at his retirement party


Verse 2:
G - C
And though he still had years to go before he
C
Slipped over the edge of the workforce
D             Am                 C          D           G - C
The question remained and in his wake there came an army



Chorus:
Em          C               G           D
What price creature comforts, what is this life really all about?
Em          C         G             D             
He drew a line between work and living, and work was winning out
Em                C           G               D
And he worked for half his life, to spend the end just feeling tired out
Em           C                (Back to main riff) G - C
That's when his roof caved in



Verse 3:
G - C
And so he made a list of all the people he worked with
C
And cut it down to the ones he got on with
D           Am               C         D          G - C
Paired each one off with the decade of his career


Verse 4:
G - C
And then he thought of all his friends from back home
C
The crazies, the ladies, the lovers he'd known
D                             Am          C           D                G - C
And then he looked around his office and wondered why he was still here



Chorus:
Em          C               G           D
What price creature comforts, what is this life really all about?
Em          C         G             D             
He drew a line between work and living, and work was winning out
Em                C           G               D
And he worked for half his life, to spend the end just feeling tired out
Em                               G
That's when he realised that he scrimped and saved all his precious days
F
So he could buy icers and microwaves
Em                D              C
And he only looks forward to his holidays

That's when his roof caved in.


Bridge:
D                Em                  Am        C            C/B        
And it would be nice to have holiday homes and healthy bank statements and 
Am           D
fat little kids,
D                      Em                      Am            C         C/B   
And I guess you can be happy to dream all your dreams as camcorder records 
Am                     D
of the things that you did,
D                   Em                      Am          C            C/B
But as soon as your sleeping does it really matter what mattress you happen 
Am               D
to be sleeping on?
D                Em                         F(Let Ring)
As long as your living and your having fun; he always laughed at the
                         C(Let Ring)         G - C
drop-outs, that he could never live that way.
        F                          F                Em
But the truth is Mr Richards was a coward, he was afraid.


Instrumental Break.    Em C G D Em C G G F F G Em C


Final Verse:
C - G
Mr Richards decided on the very next morning
C
To make his life and work the same thing
D          Am                C           D        G
Cleared he desk, he hit the road and he never retired.