Misc Musicals – Assassins - The Ballad Of Booth (Guitar)

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Chords

[Intro]
E
Someone tell the story

E
Someone sing the song

A
Every now and then the country

E
Goes a little wrong

A
Every now and then a madman's

G#            C#
Bound to come along

                 F#m
Doesn't stop the story—

               A     G#m
Story's pretty strong

E
Doesn't change the song...
[CHORUS]
F#
Johnny Booth was a handsome devil

                              C#
Got up in his rings and fancy silks

B                            C#
Had him a temper but kept it level

                     F#
Everybody called him Wilkes

B
Why did you do it, Johnny?

F#
Nobody agrees

B
You, who had everything
What made you bring
A#m
A nation to its knees?

     A
Some say it was your voice had gone

G#m
Some say it was booze

     G
They say you killed a country, John

   D
Because of bad reviews

F#
Johnny lived with a grace and glitter

                                 C#
Kinda like the lives he lived on stage

B                           C#
Died in a barn, in pain and bitter

                      F#
Twenty-seven years of age

B
Why did you do it, Johnny?

F#
Throw it all away?

B
Why did you do it, boy

    B
Not just destroy

    B
The pride and joy

   B
Of Illinois

    A#m
But all the U.S.A.?

     A
Your brother made you jealous, John

     G#m
You couldn't fill his shoes

    G
Was that the reason, tell us, John—

 D               F#
Along with bad reviews?
N.C. Damn! N.C. They're coming! N.C. They'll be here any minute— N.C. I need your help, Davey N.C. I gotta write this and I can't hold the pen N.C. Johnny, they've found us! We've got to get out of here! N.C. No! I have to make my case! N.C. And I need you to take it down! N.C. We don't have time! N.C. Take it down! N.C. An indictment N.C. Of the former President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln N.C. Who is herein charged with the following High Crimes and Misdemeanors
     A
They say your ship was sinkin', John...
N.C. One: N.C. That you did ruthlessly provoke a war between the States N.C. Which cost some six hundred thousand of my countrymen their lives N.C. Two—
      G#m             C#
You'd started missing cues...
N.C. Two: N.C. That you did silence your critics in the North N.C. By hurling them into prison without benefit of charge or trial N.C. Three—
     G
They say it wasn't Lincoln, John
N.C. Shut up! Three—
      D
You'd merely had a slew of bad

  F#
Reviews—
N.C. I said shut up! N.C. Booth! N.C. I have fifty soldiers out here, Booth! N.C. Give yourselves up or we'll set fire to the barn! N.C. Don't shoot! I'm coming out! N.C. No! N.C. I have given up my life for one act, you understand? N.C. Do not let history rob me of its meaning N.C. Pass on the truth! N.C. You're the only one who can N.C. Please... [VERSE 1] He said
F#
"Damn you, Lincoln

             A
You had your way—
Tell 'em, boy!
     F#
With blood you drew out

            A
Of blue and gray!"

A
Tell it all!

A
Tell them till they listen!

A
He said:

A
"Damn you, Lincoln

             D
And damn the day

    B
You threw the "U" out

   F#  E
Of U.S.A!"
[VERSE 2] He said:
        F#
Hunt me down, smear my name
Say I did it for the fame
       E                                  Em
What I did was kill the man who killed my country

        F#
Now the Southland will mend

         E
Now this bloody war can end

        C#
Because someone slew the tyrant

        B
Just as Brutus slew the tyrant—
[VERSE 3] He said:
A#
Damn you, Lincoln

              G#
You righteous whore!

G#
Tell 'em!

G#
Tell 'em what he did!

A#
You turned your spite

           G#
Into civil war!

G#
Tell 'em!

G#
Tell 'em the truth!

    F#
And more...

F#
Tell 'em, boy!

F#
Tell 'em how it happened
[BRIDGE]
        G                          C
How the end doesn't mean that it's over

    G                    C
How surrender is not the end!
Tell 'em:
        B
How the country is not what it was
Where there's blood on the clover
        D#m
How the nation can never again

       G#7          C#
Be the hope that it was

        F#                   B      E
How the bruises may never be healed

        F#            B      E
How the wounds are forever

       G#
How we gave up the field
But we still wouldn't yield
        C#
How the union can never recover

          C#
From that vulgar

C#
High and mighty

E      F#
Nigga lover,

B
Never—!

C#m    G#m    D#m
Never. Never. Never.

        C#                     F#
No, the country is not what it was...

        C#          F#
Damn my soul if you must

                    E
Let my body turn to dust

       A#m                          B
Let it mingle with the ashes of the country

         D#m
Let them curse me to hell

            Cm         B
Leave it to history to tell:

       D#m
What I did, I did well

      Bm
And I did it for my country

C#       D#m         C#m
Let them cry, "Dirty traitor!"

               G#
They will understand it later—

F#                         B
The country is not what it was...
[CHORUS]
F#
Johnny Booth was a headstrong fellow

                               C#
Even he believed the things he said

B                                C#
Some called him noble, some said yellow

                        F#
What he was was off his head
[CHORUS]
B
How could you do it, Johnny

F#
Calling it a cause?

B
You left a legacy

   B
Of butchery

    B
And treason we

     B
Took eagerly

    A#m
And thought you'd get applause

    A
But traitors just get jeers and boos

    G#m
Not visits to their graves

      G
While Lincoln, who got mixed reviews

  D                                 F#
Because of you, John, now gets only raves

C#
Damn you, Johnny!

              B
You paved the way

    C#
For other madmen

           B
To make us pay
Lots of madmen
               A
Have had their say—

               G#
But only for a day
[Outro]
E
Listen to the stories

A
Hear it in the songs

E
Angry men don't write the rules

    F#m
And guns don't right the wrongs

E                           A
Hurts a while, but soon the country's

E
Back where it belongs

               A#
And that's the truth

D#
Still and all

          G#
Damn you, Booth!