Todd Snider – The Ballad Of The Kingsmen chords

[Intro]
G  D  C


[Verse]
    G             D                    CThe Kingsmen came together in a garage, they could hardly even play
    G                           D                                         CBut they practiced night and day pretty soon they got to where they could really play that song Louie, Louie
    G                                    D                             CSo, they saved up all the money from the shows, went in to one of them studios and gave their version 

of the song a try

G     D                             CNow, I don't know the words to that song Louie, Louie and I'm pretty sure the singer for the
G                               D                            CKingsmen didn't know ‘em either, if he did know ‘em he didn't get ‘em right on the record
                                              G             D              C            DCause on the record they sound jumbled in his jaw? It says, me think of me girl oh so constantly
  G       D             C        DAhmayaaah makaaaah aahh ooohoooh aaaaah
G                    D                         CWell, that last part scared everybody from the PTA to the FBI
         G                               D                               CYou see, the kids had been going kind of crazy lately and it seemed like nobody could figure out why,
            G                        D                                         CSo they decided to form a coalition, launch an investigation, you know for the children, 

they at least had to try
G                 DTo figure out the words to Louie, Louie


[Chorus]
         G    C   G            CIt's the feel good hit of this endless summer
G             A7             DIt gets these kids out of control
C       D            G             CSingin along to that star spangled bummer,
G     D             GHail, hail rock and roll


[Verse]
G               D                     CMarilyn Manson’s real name isn't even Marilyn Manson, he's a skinny public high school
G                D                      CKid from Florida, not some monster from out of this world and like of a lot other skinny long hair public
G               D                                       CHigh school kids he was sick of getting beaten up by the pulling guard all week only to go out on the weekend,

and watch the
G                            D       CQuarterback get all the girls so, he formed a band man
     G               D        CNow' he gets all the girls, a few years later a couple of latchkey kids go tragically
G                                   D                                          CMad and everybody's standing around the television store at the mall trying to figure out what went wrong,

this guy says,
              G                                 D                                           Cyou think the life of a kid going to high school could've gotten so bad this other guy says nah,
CIt's just the words to one of them goddamn Marilyn Manson songs, you know the one


[Chorus]
         G    C   G            CIt's the feel good hit of this endless summer
G             A7             DIt gets these kids out of control
C       D            G             CSingin along to that star spangled bummer,
G     D             GHail, hail rock and roll


    G               D                           CYou know, every ten years or so our country and some other little country, we start firing all of our

newest weapons
   G                       D                          CAt each other for some reason or another, right or wrong, like it or not, it happens, and when it happens
           G                        D                     CPeople get shot and when people get shot, they show it on tv a lot every night at six o clock
                   G                            D                             CAnd you don't even have to be eighteen to see it you don't even have to be in first grade,

first grade where they teach the kid pride
     G                             D                          CThey tell him he'll need to thrive, in a world where only the strong will survive, so he's taught

the art of more
       G                       D                            CTo compare to and to keep score Monday thru Friday while he stares at the floor til' Sunday 

they make him go to
G                     D                                         CSchool once more only this time they make him wear a suit and a tie and listen to some guy who claims to know

where people go
     G                               D                          CWhen they die tell him that only the meek are gonna inherit the earth Well sh*t, by this time the kid doesn't

know what anything
   G                              D                  CIs worth, now brothers and sisters I am only one guy and I don't even know the words to that song Louie, Louie
G                            D                               Cbut I can tell you right now without batting an eye that the next time some latchkey kid goes wrong
   CIt aint gonna be cause that Eminem gets to say the word Fag in his song
    G                                   D                             CAnd I'm not trying to preach to ya either, I'm just trying to sing to ya too, you know string

a few words together


[Outro]
G        D   CHey kids...
            G    D   CLets get it on,
           G    D   CLets get it on