The Clash – Ghetto Defendant (Guitar)

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Versions (3)

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As recorded by The Clash (From the 1982 Album COMBAT ROCK) [Intro] C Am C Am Dm Em C Am [Verse 1]

C                Dm    Em C Am
 Starved in metropolis

C               Dm    Em C Am
 Hooked on necropolis

C               Dm    Em C Am
 Addict of metropolis

C       Am     C     Am
 Do the worm on acropolis

Dm  Em                 C C/B Am
Slam  dance cosmopolis

       Am              C Am Dm Em C C/B Am
Enlighten the populace

[Interlude] C Am C Am Dm Em C C/B Am x2 [Verse 2]

C      Am          C    Am
Hungry darkness of living

Dm       Em
Who will thirst in the pit?

 Am
(Hooked in metropolis)

C                          Am
She spent a lifetime deciding

Dm     Em        C
How to run from it

 Am
(Addicts of metropolis)

C    Am         C      Am
Once fate had a witness

Dm      Em                C
And the years seemed like friends

 Am
(Girlfriends)

C
Now her child has a dream

Dm       Em           C    Am
But it begins like it ends

 Am               C Am Dm
(Shot in eternity)

 Em        Am    C Am C Am  Dm Em
(Methadone kitty)

 C        Am
(Iron serenity)

[Chorus]

C      Am
Ghetto defendant

Dm    Em     C    Am
It is heroin pity

C                Am
Not tear gas nor baton charge

Dm             Em         C
That stops you taking the city

 Am         C
(Strung out committee)

[Verse 3]

C      Am         C   Am
Walled out of the city

Dm           Em     Am
Clubbed down from uptown

C       Am            C    Am
Sprayed pest from the nest

Dm         Em     C
Run out to barrio town

     Am
(The guards are itchy)

C
Forced to watch at the feast

Dm   Em              Am
Then sweep up the night

C       Am        C
Flipped pieces of coin

 Am     Dm
(Broken bottles)

  Em          Am
Exchanged for birthright

 Am
(Grafted in a jiffy)

[Chorus]

C      Am
Ghetto defendant

Dm    Em     C
It is heroin pity

 Am
(Strung out committee)

C                Am
Not tear gas nor baton charge

Dm            Em
Will stop you taking the city

 Am
(Not sitting pretty)

 Dm
(Grafted in a jiffy)

Am
Heroin pity

C                Am
Not tear gas nor baton charge

Dm            Em             Am
Will stop you taking the city

[Verse 4] N.C. The Ghetto Prince of gutter poets N.C. Was bounced out of the room

 Am          C
(Jean Arthur Rimbaud)

       Am            C    Am
By the bodyguards of greed

Dm     Am
For disturbing the tomb

   C
(1873)

C         Am
His words like flamethrowers

 Am
(Paris commune)

Dm        Em               C    Am
Burnt the ghettos in their chests

C     Am         C    Am
His face painted whiter

Dm         Em
And he was laid to rest

 Am
(Died in Marseilles)

[Chorus]

C      Am
Ghetto defendant

           Dm
(Buried in Charleville)

      Em        Am
It is heroin pity

C                Am
Not tear gas nor baton charge

D         Em         C
Stops you taking the city

 Am
(Shut up in eternity)

Dm    Em     C  Am
It is heroin pity

C                Am
Not tear gas nor baton charge

Dm             Em         C   Am
That stops you taking the city

[Interlude] C Am Dm Em C Am C Am Dm Em C Am C Am Dm Em C Am C Am Dm Em [Outro]

C      Am
Ghetto defendant

Dm        Em
In heroin pity

C                Am
Not tear gas nor baton charge

Dm            Em          C   Am
Will stop you taking that city

C      Am
Ghetto defendant

Dm    Em     C   Am
It is heroin pity

C                Am
Not tear gas nor baton charge