• Song:

    Church Underground

  • Artist:

    Elvis Costello

Dm
She stood spotlit in a plain print dress
Came howling out of the wilderness
Gm................F..........................C
....There beat a cunning and murderous heart
Beneath that calm exterior
Dm
"You know my name
You don't know my mind
Don't doubt my eyes
They betray the past
Gm............F
....And I've already forgotten
C
....Much more than you will ever know"
Dm..................................F/C
....And every word that I have spoken is true
G/B
.....Except for those that were broken in two
C/Bb......................................F/A
.....I'm trying to make peace after a long night of pretend
C/Bb...............................F/A
.....I need a pawnbroker or a moneylender
G
Why do you do me down, Mister?
..............F.......C
Sing "Hallelujah," Sister
C/Bb ...........................F/A
Turn up the volume, just to turn it down
Dm.........Dm/C...........G/B
The trivial secrets buried with the profound
....C.................................F............C/E...Dm
It's enough to put a Church Underground
....C.................................F............C/E...Dm
It's enough to put a Church Underground
Dm
.....Deflowered young and then ever since
She's tried to wash off his fingerprints
Gm.......F.................C
So every charlatan and prince
Was made to feel inferior
Dm
She worked for tips in a 10-cent dance
Said moving pictures might pay perchance
Gm......F.........................C
10,000 one-way tickets to the sparkling coast
From the blank interior
Dm..................F/A
Everybody's either talking in code
G/B
Or getting ready to explode
C/Bb..........................F/A
Then she was singing in a five-piece band
C/Bb...........................F/A
But seems that no-one really wants this sound

G
Why do you do me down, Mister?
..............F.......C
Sing "Hallelujah," Sister
C/Bb ...........................F/A
Turn up the volume, just to turn it down
Dm.........Dm/C...........G/B
The trivial secrets buried with the profound
....C.................................F............C/E...Dm
It's enough to put a Church Underground
....C.................................F
It's enough to put a Church Underground

Bb..................F.........................C/E
.....The shaft of fanlight streaked with rain
.......................A...............................Eb
Poured through the glass, punched through the pain
...........D........................Gm...........................C
The holy picture hidden in the midden of that poisoned stitch
.............Gm........Gm/Bb.....Am
Her lonely voice was just a ruin in these riches
Dm
She must have been dreaming this all along
Could she be redeeming herself in song?
Bb..................F....................Em
.....?I'm no-one's martyred, plaster saint
............A7
Below the grease, beneath the paint?
.....Dm
I'm rolling like barrel
F/C
Swinging like a gallows
.....G/B
I'm rising up fast like all hell and all hallows
G
Why do you do me down, Mister?
..............F.......C
Sing "Hallelujah," Sister
C/Bb ...........................F/A
.... I'll be damned or purgatory bound
Dm.........Dm/C..............G/B
....Before those jokers ever understand
....C.................................F............C/E...Dm
It's enough to put a Church Underground
....C.................................F............C/E...Dm
It's enough to put a Church Underground
....C.................................F............C/E...Dm
It's enough to put a Church Underground

Dm Dm7 (x3)

(organ part that follows: A Dsus2 Dsus4 D Asus4 D)
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