D#m
The world is an overflowing gutter
  B
It bubbles with the brine of shit and blood
   G#m
And those who keep their eyes upon the heavens
       B                                  A#   E
Are the ones that end up faces down in the mud

D#m
It's easy to speak of grand ambitions
  B
Its easy to pretend you're innocent
  G#m
But lest you get distracted by the suffering of your sister
     B                              A#7    E
Being practical and trying to pay the rent


[Chorus]

B                              D#m
Heaven has been promised to the righteous
G#m                    F#
Hell's an overpopulated pit
C#        A#7           D#m      A#
Purgatory's given to the dreamers
       B               A#7                 D#m
But the world belongs to those who plow the shit


[Verse]
         D#m
There's a special place in hell for fancy talkers
         B
There's a special place in heaven for the whores
        G#m
There's a throne reserved for those with good ideas
      B                           A#7
Stolen by the demagogues who wanted more

  D#m
The flowers and the laces in the market
       B
Are all purchased by the peddlers of the flesh
  G#m
But those who bring relief and carnal pleasure
         B                          A#7
Sometimes serve the needs of mankind for the best


[Chorus]

    B                          D#m
Cast off the limitations of the righteous
     G#m                               F#
There are good deeds only devils can commit
      C#               A#7               D#m     A#
Let us dance between the teardrops and the angels
       B               A#7                 D#m
For the world belongs to those who plow the shit


[Bridge]

B                                    G#m
At last the supreme maker decreed that this creature
                                            B
To whom he could give nothing wholly his own

Should have a share
                           A#7                     D#m
In the particular endowment of every other creature

Taking man therefore this
D#m
Creature of indeterminate image
  B
He set him in the middle of the world
                     G#m
And thus spoke to him
                     B
We have given you, oh Adam
                A#7
No visage proper to yourself
                        D#m
No endowment properly your own

In order that
                                       B
Whatever price, whatever form, whatever gifts you may with

Premeditation select
                 G#m
These same may you have and possess
                                       B
Through your own judgement and decision
                 A#7
We have made you a creature neither of heaven
D#m
Nor of Earth!

Neither mortal
 D#m            
Nor immortal!
 B
In order that you may
                                              G#m
As the free and proud shaper of your own being
                                            
Fashion yourself in the form you may propose
 B                  A#7
It will be in your power
                       D#m
To descend to the lower brutish forms of life
                B
You will be able through your own judgement and decision
         G#m
To rise again to the superior orders
   B          A#7
Of life is divine!


[Verse]

  D#m
The dead become the emperors of memory
   B
The saints have all been eaten by the worms
  G#m
The living will write a twisted future
   B                                  A#7
And the sinners all have practical concerns

   D#m
The sentinels with rifles on the border
  B
Of the pretenses of charity are swept
  G#m
Oh but let's not talk of slipping into nightmares
       B                              A#7
For the day is run by those who haven't slept


[Chorus]

  B                              D#m
So throw away the vestments of the righteous
    B                          D#m
Make sure the body armor snuggly fits
   C#             A#7                 D#m        A#
The souls are taken flight now from the birdhouse
       B               A#7                D#m
And the world belongs to those who plow the shit