Chords for Elvis Costello-Battered Old Bird

_ _ [A] _ _ [D] _ _ [A] _ _
[D] The [A] landlady's husband came [D] up to town today
_ [G] Since he left them both ten years ago to serve [D] the ministry
_ _ _ [A] _ The [D] dark down road of his [Am] approach and constant rain was drenched
[G] The tenant's boy said, how do you do, then [D] swore in [A] fray
[D] Did you teach this little child these curses on my soul?
[G] Should both be shut down [D] in the [A] cold _
[D] That's the way to treat a child who cries out in [A] the night
[G] And a woman who teaches wrong [D] from right
Oh, [G] he's a bad little bird
[D] And he's a living, living, oh, oh, oh
[G] He's a bad little bird
And [D] he's a living, living, oh, oh, [A] oh
There's a place where time stands still
You keep [D] taking these little pain pills, oh, oh, oh
_ _ _ [A] _ _ [D] Hush your [A] mouth, you hypocrite, [D] his humor cut her deep
[G] The tight-lipped lyre of judgment that had seen her love [D] deserted just like sleep
Filthy words on children's lips are beds of my [A] dispouse
[G] Then if I were to speak my mind [D] about this house
[G] Oh, he's a bad little bird
[D] And he's a living, living, oh, oh, [G] oh
He's a bad little bird
[D] And he's a living, living, oh, oh, [A] oh
There's a place where time stands still
You keep taking [D] these little pain pills, oh, oh, oh
[C] But _ [G] _
[Am] on the first fall, there were two old maids
Each one wishing [C] that the other was afraid
[Am] And next to them was a man somehow
He'd been [G] chopped off [C] the head of a visitor's child
He [F] danced upon the bonfire, swallowed sleeping pills like dreams
With a bottle of sweet cherry that [G] everything [C] redeems
Oh, [F] he's a bad little bird
And [C] he's a living, living, oh, oh, oh
[F] He's a bad little bird
And [C] he's a living, living, oh, oh, [G] oh
There's a place where time stands still
You keep [C] taking these little pain pills, oh, oh, [G] oh
_ [C] _ _ [G] _ [Am] And on the second floor is the Macintosh man
He's in his [C] overcoat, barring out of them
[Am] And then the tight riders rattling off through the night
He's begging me for [C] breakfast time
He [F] says one day I'll throw away all of my cares
It is always Christmas in a cabin at the [G] top [C] of the stairs
Oh, [F] he's a bad little bird
[C] And he's a living, living, oh, oh, oh
[F] He's a bad little bird
And [C] he's a living, living, oh, oh, [G] oh
There's a place where time stands still
You keep taking [C] these little pain pills, oh, oh, oh
_ [D] _ _ _ _ Well, there's a boy, if ever there was, who's gonna do big things
[G] I guess that's what they all say, and that's how the trouble [D] begins _
I've seen them rise and fall, been through their big deals and smalls
And you [G] better have a dream that goes beyond fall [A] walls
[Bm] You think you should be sent outside playing with [D] the traffic
[G] When pieces of them are already scattered in the [F] attic
Oh, _ _ _ [G] _ [F] he's a bad little bird
And [C] he's a living, living, oh, oh, oh
[F] He's a bad little bird
And [G] he's a living, living, oh, oh, oh
There's a place where time stands still
You keep taking [C] these little pain pills, oh, oh, oh
[G] _ _ [C] _ _ Oh, [C] oh, oh, oh
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