The Charm Of Innocence

	  		      C                      D 
I was born with the charm of innocence 
      A           Bb 
On my back like a cross 
C                  D 
Thorns upon my forehead 
A               Bb 
Round my neck I wore it 
            C 
Sometimes a rabbit's claw 
             E 
Sometimes an albatross 

     A                           C#m 
It began at a school that turned boys into gentlemen 
G                      Bm 
Then turned them on to debauchery 
      A                     C#m 
I was forced to my knees in front of these gentlemen 
G                       Bm 
If I refused they would torture me 
   A                       C#m 
On Sundays I'd stalk the Botanical Garden 
    G                 Bm 
And under my uniform something would harden 
   F                               E 
Whenever I passed a girl of my own age 

   A                    C#m 
Or did it begin with au pair girls from Germany 
G                        Bm 
Paid by the hour to look after us? 
A                      C#m 
Did it begin with that first opportunity 
   G                      Bm 
To corner a stranger with nakedness? 
A                  C#m 
Maybe the clinical way they undressed me 
G                   Bm 
Stayed with me and deeply distressed me 
F                                     E 
I think, at heart, I'm something of a prude 

      C                      D 
I was born with the charm of innocence 
      A           Bb 
On my back like a cross 
C                  D 
Thorns upon my forehead 
A               Bb 
Round my neck I wore it 
            C 
Sometimes a rabbit's claw 
             E 
Sometimes an albatross 

A                  C#m 
Then at eighteen I decided I wanted 
   G                  Bm 
To be a commercial photographer 
   A              C#m 
I rented a studio down by the docks 
        G                      Bm 
Which I shared with a friendly pornographer 
  A                      C#m 
I photographed models in fluorescent light 
      G                            Bm 
Whose veins were so blue and whose breasts were so white 
     F                                    E 
I assumed, like the moon, women were blue cheese 

A                    C#m 
When I left home I already had five years 
   G                   Bm 
Of self abuse under my belt 
  A                         C#m 
I found certain women who'd let me try anything 
G                       Bm 
Just to find out how it felt 
        A                      C#m 
In some garish hotel room with vile decoration 
    G                      Bm 
The wallpaper witnessed my first pollination 
F                                 E 
The paisley patterns witnessed an abortion 

      C                      D 
I was born with the charm of innocence 
      A           Bb 
On my back like a cross 
C                  D 
Thorns upon my forehead 
A               Bb 
Round my neck I wore it 
            C 
Sometimes a rabbit's claw 
             E 
Sometimes an albatross 

       A                      C#m 
In the army they taught me to share the abuse 
         G                      Bm 
That I'd kept up 'til then to myself 
        A             
There's nothing like killing 
    C#m                  G                     Bm 
For coaxing a shy boy of twenty-one out of his shell 
       A                     C#m 
In the dark continent with a peace-keeping force 
       G                    Bm 
I fell in with a bunch of Algerian whores 
F                                     E 
And promised them I'd try and keep in touch 

B                      Ebm 
We met up again in the eighteenth arrondisement 
A               C#m 
I remember them well 
      B                           Ebm 
Their lank stringy hair and their big bulbous noses 
      A            C#m 
Their unmistakable smell 
       B                      Ebm 
I'd approach all the ugliest, seediest jerks 
    A                       C#m 
And ask them to keep a young model in work 
G                                             F# 
Some men, thank Christ, don't discriminate at all 

      C                      D 
I was born with the charm of innocence 
      A           Bb 
On my back like a cross 
C                  D 
Thorns upon my forehead 
A               Bb 
Round my neck I wore it 
            C 
Sometimes a rabbit's claw 
             E 
Sometimes an albatross 

       A                    C#m 
I will pass my old age by a pale two-bar fire 
G                    Bm 
Patiently waiting to die 
A                         C#m 
Twitching the lace as the schoolgirls go past 
G                   Bm 
Tracing a page of Bataille 
    A                        C#m 
And if you catch sight of my secondhand coat 
G                         Bm 
Leaving behind it a faint whiff of goat 
         F                    E 
Remember both of us are naked underneath 

  B                             Ebm 
I thought it would end with the first obscene phone call 
    A                   C#m 
The second professional kill 
    B                        Ebm 
But somehow detached from my actual behavior 
     A                    C#m 
This innocence burdens me still 
B                 Ebm 
Up in the attic I pick up the brush 
 A                        C#m 
Paint in the crow's feet, paint out the blush 
    G                                 F# 
The face this portrait is of is still capable of 
    G                                                F# 
The face this portrait is supposed to be of is still capable of 
    G         G/F#     G/E   G/F#     F# 
The face this portrait is of is still capable of (Paint out the blush of shame) 
    G         G/F#            G/E        G/F#        F# 
The face this portrait is supposed to be of is still capable of (Paint out the blush of shame) 
    G         G/F#     G/E   G/F#     F# 
The face this portrait is of is still capable of (Paint out the blush of shame) 
    G         G/F#            G/E        G/F#        F# 
The face this portrait is supposed to be of is still capable of (Paint out the blush of shame) 
    G         G/F#     G/E   G/F#     F# 
The face this portrait is of is still capable of (Paint out the blush of shame) 
    G         G/F#            G/E        G/F#        F# 
The face this portrait is supposed to be of is still capable of (Paint out the blush of shame) 

End on G.