| C*         | C*         | C*         | C          |

[Verse 1]
F  Em  Dm   C              G        Am   F                C         G
Trying   to clip the creek   to the bank   with a clothes pin,
            Am      G       F       G        F         F
waterlogged system,   rusty spring,   faulty planning.
C              G        F                F
Logic squeezed out like mustard at a corndog,
C      G                 F       F
  hypertension is not wisdom,
C  G    F F
chewing     the leather straps.

[Interlude]
| C*         | C*         | C*         | C          |

[Verse 2]
F  Em  Dm   C            G Am    F        C          G
Trying   to hold the sun   still   with a bobby pin,
       Am       G              F              F
burned fingers,   excellent conductor of heat.
C            G            F                F
Private fantasies are not public policy,
C           G            F             F
  Christian charity is a doily over my death boner.
C      G               F             F
  Busy work is not the Great Wall of China,
C           G           F               F
  vanity bamboo hut out back behind the big house.
C  G       F     F F               (C)
Pretend is salve     for whitey-boy guilt.

[Interlude]
| C*         | C*         | C*         | C          |

[Verse 3]
F  Em Dm  C           G     F    F             (C)
Furiously slapping at   the moon   with a cane  pole.

[Interlude]
| C*         | C*         | C*         | C          |

[Verse 4]
F  Em  Dm   C           G         F F                   C      G
Trying   to prop up the   heavens     with a fresh flat pencil,
                 F                  F
some folks are allergic to rubber.
C      G                F                   F
  I am trying to stitch this one to all the rest of them
C         G          F       F
  but the seams will split,
C    G        F              F
  collide and cleave.
C    G           F          C     G       F          F               (C)
  Neopolitan ice   cream is never   truly integrated   until it's too late.

[Interlude]
| C*         | C*         | C*         | C          |

[Verse 5]
F  Em  Dm   C                 G      F F      C    G
Trying   to stop the bleeding   with   scotch tape,
                  F       G             F                 G
Platelets spoil adhesion,   fire up the cauterizing iron,
                     F       G                  F          F
it's a branding of necessity   not scarification.
C           G             F             F
Bliss was a pimple that I tried to pop,
C                   G         F            F
  it erupted up and out on my countenance.

[Outro]
C       G            F        F
  Ugly eruption, Vesuvius,
C       G            F        F
  ugly eruption, Vesuvius.
C       G            F        F
  Ugly eruption, Vesuvius,
C          G    F        F
  Vesuvius at myself,
  F           F        C      C      C      C
Vesuvius at myself.