Chords for LRBC 21 The Reverend Billy C. Wirtz -- Sleeper Hold on Satan.

You have to understand that after World War II in this country, when we came back [Eb] to putting
the country back together, we had a lot of things that went along with [Bb] things like the
Department of Health and Human Services that we didn't have before the war and [N] all these
wonderful strides in the Department of Education.
And where I'm from in South Carolina, you can laugh all you want.
My mother went [Ebm] to court to see if people under the age of 13 couldn't get married, okay?
[G] But things like that happened in this [Dm] country up to a very short [B] period of time ago.
It's just [A] people, you're not going to [Gm] give a damn, and that's what happens [Ebm] when things change.
So there you [G] go.
So the whole thing was that I kind of came up in this weird environment, and I [N] came up
in the police station as some of the guys that were my first babysitters.
So we had this kind of idyllic little lifestyle, and then we moved on up to Washington somewhere
along the [E] way.
And what happened was when I was [G] growing up there, I was fascinated with professional
wrestling [N] because you were these big men with blonde hair that did all the things you weren't supposed to.
You know, like we were taught about sportsmanship and all that, and these guys would kick the
good guy and do all that stuff, and I thought it was just fabulous.
I loved it.
And then there was gospel music, and I just always loved, I grew up with gospel, and I
always loved that.
The whole thing that goes along with it.
[D] _
[A] So _ [D] _ [G] _ years [E] later, as the psychedelic era [N] entered, and it was in about 1960, I think, I think
seventh, [G] eighth, ninth grade when I took acid for [F] the first time.
True story, I'm just telling you about my life.
I took LSD, and [E] I went to a rock concert, I think I went to see Ten Years After, but
I remember looking up [Ebm] when I started thinking, [Bb] getting off [E] this Porter Wagon with eight [F] arms,
like a Shiva kind of thing.
_ And then I saw this thing, [Em] a friend of mine started saying, you ever think [Am] about good and [N] evil?
And I started seeing a wrestling match between Jesus, I'm not kidding, okay?
I believe you.
Laugh all you want.
Anyway, well maybe you understand the same thing, or you [G] have the same vision.
Exactly.
So I'm just telling you, [E] so I started to struggle with good and evil, it's like Jesus and [B] the
devil, and years [N] later when I started writing songs, I wanted to write a song about dynamite
spirituality, and this is a song called Sleeper Hold on Satan and the Body Slam on [G] Sin.
Now, you can laugh at this, but there was an eighth grade church [Em] of the Nazarene class
in [N] Charleston, West Virginia that thought this was one of the coolest songs they'd ever
heard, and I heard they were going to do a video of this, but I lost contact with them.
There was a Christian station _ outside of Jackson, Tennessee that this was their number one hit
for about three weeks.
So I hope [B] y'all like it, it's one of my favorites, it goes like this.
[D] _ _ _ _
[G] _ [A] _ [D] _ _ We got that sleeper hold on Satan, [G] and the [D] body slam on sin.
I thought my life was counted [E] after the Jesus [A] take on him.
[G] Now the devil is bathing fast with [D] a heavenly arm [Bm] locked under the chin.
Sleeper hold on Satan, and the [A] body [D] slam on sin.
_ Yeah, when I was a little [G] girl, my mom was full of [D] information.
She said, life is one big wrestling [E] match and there's no [A] disqualification.
[D] The devil is a dirty wrestler, [G] using every trick [D] he's got.
Your soul is like that title [A] belt, and he wants to [D] get him a shot.
_ And when he gets you in that ring, [G] buddy, you better [D] want me no fake.
He'll come at you from every angle he [E] can, every cheap [A] shot he'll take.
[D] He'll use that foreign object, [Gm] he'll grab [D] you by the hair.
Be sure to guard down below the [A] belt, cause he'd love to nail [D] you down there.
You got a sleeper hold on Satan, [A] and the body [D] slam on sin.
I thought my life was counted [E] after the Jesus [A] take on him.
[G] Now the devil is bathing [Bm] fast with a heavenly arm locked under the chin.
_ Sleeper hold on Satan, and [A] the body [D] slam on sin.
And a sunny morning piano. _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ [A] _ _ [D] _ _
_ [G] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
Hello out there, mommies [G] and daddies, brothers and sisters, [D] hamsters and dribbles,
and heckler-climbing operators in the great Brevard County, Florida, which is where I normally do [A] this routine aerial.
_ [D] This is your truly Reverend Billy Wirtz, [G] and Prince, I want to talk to you for a minute.
[D] You know, Prince, [A] I've been out on the road for a long time.
As a matter of [D] fact, right before I got on this movie [G] stage,
I found [D] myself, once again, at the age of 59, all [A] by myself out there on that road.
[D] I found myself late one night, [G] _ now [D] relatively free of all those [A] bad stimulants I used to put in my body,
having a little [D] trouble falling asleep on the [G] Hampton Inn outside of Yemesee, [D] South Carolina.
I [A] remember turning on that late night channel I [D] used to have to pay five bucks an hour for,
but now they're [G] free when you check in.
_ [D] I found myself looking at things, saying, Reverend Billy, you're too tired, you're too old.
But yes, Prince, I felt temptation close at hand, and trouble close on mine.
I fell asleep with trouble close at hand,
and I dreamed that they were portraying my soul as a championship match on a Sunday morning in Westland.
They were interviewing the devil, and the devil was saying this.
He was saying, you know, Billy Wirtz, you're the last of the long line of mortals [G] that have tried [D] to get away from me.
There was Jimmy Banger, there was Jimmy Spiker, [E] and all those others.
And [D] you, you little redheaded [G] geek, you're next.
I'm going to [D] beat you, I'm going to humiliate you, [A] I'm going to put you in the Lucifer leg lock,
[D] I'm going to put you in the 666 drop [G] tank, the fires of Hell are stoked, [D] and you're going to burn.
[A] _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ I woke up, and _ I was real scared.
_ _ And I heard a gentle voice say, Billy.
_ Which is good, because when I wake up, I hear a gentle voice saying, Billy.
_ That's another song. _ _
You all got real quiet, didn't you?
_ You're just saying a joke.
Well, I woke up, and the gentle voice said, Billy, Jesus is the champion [G] in [D] life's eternal battle.
He's been there for the little [E] ones, for the big ones, [A] he'll help you out.
[D] See, the prayers are just like push-ups [G] in the glorious [D] heavenly gym.
And when your soul gets on the [A] ropes, tag it [D] right on in.
And he got that sleeper hold on Satan, [G] [A] and the body [D] is slain from sin.
I thought that I was counted [E] out, but [A] Jesus tagged on in.
[G] Now the devil is fading in, [Bm] having that arm locked under that gym.
Sleeper hold on Satan, and the [A] body is [G] slain [A] from sin.
_ _ [D] _
[G] _ _ [A] _ _ [D] _ _ [G] The winner and still [E] champion, [D] Jesus! _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ [G] _ _ [C] _ [N] _