INTRO:
Am G  Am G  Am G  G Am

VERSE:
 Am                    C              G              Em
Just a little general hospital, in a little factory town.
     Em               G                Am             D
The board put me in charge for mainly keeping prices down.
   C                F            G  Em
I hadn't touched a patient since 1982,
        Am            F             Em            Am
But the day of the explosion I remembered what to do.

   F              Am               G                E
At eleven in the morning, we all heard the factory blow.
     Am                 F                D                  E
The blast took out the windows, and the shrapnel fell like snow.
          F                G               Em            Am
We could get no help from out of town for half a day or more.
        F               D              G               Am
We had near a thousand casualties and beds for ninety-four.


CHORUS:
    Am                 G          Am                 G
And can you keep your head, your backbone, or your heart?
   Am                 G                          Am  Am  Am
We all found out the answer on the day it fell apart.


VERSE:
        Am                C             G                  Em
It was worse than combat medicine; supplies were draining fast.
 Em           G           Am               D
Bandages ran out and antiseptics wouldn't last.
        C            F              G                Em
I took all the able-bodied I could catch inside the door
     Am                 F             Em                    Am
And made them help the doctors to go scrounge supplies and more.

     F              Am                  G          E
I invented laws to tell them saying in such emergency
   Am              F                 D                E
Forget your usual job and boss, your orders come from me.
   F                G         Em           Am
I sent the cops to commandeer anything in reach:
  F           D               G            Am
Food or disinfectant cloth or alcohol or bleach.


CHORUS:
    Am                 G          Am                 G
And can you keep your head, your backbone, or your heart?
   Am                 G                          Am  Am  Am
We all found out the answer on the day it fell apart.


VERSE:
     Am           C                 G                   Em
The janitor ran cleanup squad, the cook maintained supplies,
     Em           G                  Am              D
The garbageman removed the ones who died before our eyes.
      C                    F              G            Em
The clerks burned all our papers to boil water on the fire
      Am         F                   Em              Am
For sterilizing instruments, as the body count went higher.

   F                Am               G             Em
A local healthfood herbalist brought everything he had.
     Am              F                D                 E
The painkillers were useful, and the poultices weren't bad.
   F                 G            Em               Am
A smack and cocaine pusher handed us his whole supply.
     F           D            G              Am
The quality was lousy, but a few more didn't die.


CHORUS:
    Am                 G          Am                 G
And can you keep your head, your backbone, or your heart?
   Am                 G                          Am  Am  Am
We all found out the answer on the day it fell apart.


VERSE:
        Am            C                   G             Em
We did triage in the parking lot, ranked minor, major, grave.
   Em               G                  Am                D
A sad-eyed fireman gave the stroke to those we couldn't save.
      C               F          G              Em
Then sometime in the chaos, a director wandered in
    Am              F                    Em             Am
To tell us we were breaking rules, what trouble we'd be in.

    F                  Am          G              Em
But if we'd swear the factory was not the fire's cause,
         Am           F               D              E
And the harm was accidental, he'd forget the broken laws.
      F                    G               Em            Am
The staff sneaked up and grabbed him, and tied him to a door.
    F                    D                G     Em   Am  Am Am
He gave them blood transfusions 'till he hadn't any more.


INSTRUMENTAL: (Play VERSE chords)
C G Em
Em G Am D
C F G Em
Am F Em Am Am

F Am G Em
Am F D E
F G Em Am Am
F D G Am

CHORUS:
    Am                 G          Am                 G
And can you keep your head, your backbone, or your heart?
   Am                 G                          Am  Am  Am
We all found out the answer on the day it fell apart.


VERSE:
 Am               C               G                 Em
When that day was over, and we'd saved all that we could,
    Em               G              Am                D
We saw that law and politics would hang us where we stood.
      C                   F                   G         E
We'd saved eight hundred lives but shattered all authority.
   Am                  F                   Em               Am
I told them, "People, save yourselves, put all the blame on me."

   F                Am                  G              Em
I took my books and instruments, and a few supplies beside,
 Am                F          D            E
Packed my car and ran away to open countryside.
    F             G          Em                 Am
So now I live an outlaw, condemned by righteous men,
         F               D                     G           Am
But for all the lives I saved that day ... I'd do it all again.


CHORUS:
    Am                 G          Am                 G
And can you keep your head, your backbone, or your heart?
   Am                 G                          Am
We all found out the answer on the day it fell apart.

Am                 G          Am                 G
Can you keep your head, your backbone, or your heart?
       Am                 G                           Am  Am  Am
You'll all found out the answer on the day it falls apart.