Part I
E|---------|

D                         C        G            D
  I can remember the first girl that I did love

                   C   G
  It was Stephanie

D                     C          G           D
  In kindergarten arithmetic classes she used to

              C    G
  Sit next to me

D                             C          G
  I'd pass her sticky sweets under the table

            D                C     G
  Where the teacher couldn't see

D                           C
  Although she wouldn't remember me now

 G            D                       C   G
  Sometimes I wonder where she can be.

     D  C  G  D  C  G  D  C  G

D                         C             G
  I can remember the first girl I kissed it was

  D                    C
  Christine when I was ten.

D                          C        G
  I'd been told we were moving away

                D                  C  G
  I thought I'd never see her again

D                C   G
  Oh don't forget me

          D              C      G
  I'll be back when they let me

D                            C               G
  Before you learn how to lie when you're leaving

          D                   C   G
  Love is so much easier then

          D  C  G  D  C  G

         A7     D                G              D
  And at school would you believe three hundred boys

      A7              D
  And no girls at all

               A7   D                  G
  But you're a fool if you should leave

      G             D       A7             D
  Just think of the joys of rugby football

      G           D  A        G              D
  And prep in the morning and Brylcream and acne

      G                D       C            A
  And cross-country running to kill evil thoughts

                D               G
  I'm surprised that I survived

                     D             A7              C  G
  I ran ten thousand miles with my back to the wall.

      D  C  G  D  C  G

D                         C           G     D
  I can remember the first girl that I made love to

              C    G
  It was in a park

D                              C   G
  In the lower pleasure gardens in Bournemouth

     D                   C  G
  In summer just after dark

D                 C  G  D         C    G
  My mind was reeling.  Oh what a feeling.

D                                 C          G
  I missed the bus and walked twelve miles home

         D                      C  G  D  C  G  D  C
  And it really didn't seem far.


G     D     A        G           D
  And all through my seventeenth summer

D           A                G    A7  D
  Running together from crowds and ties

D                   A            G   A7    D
  Taking our clothes off and feeling each other

       D              A            G     A7  D
  With fingers and senses and mouths and eyes,

    G               D      G           D
  Incurring the glances of old disapproval

       G         D     C              A7
  From elderly local inhabitant's eyes

     D    A       G      A    D
  Oh time time we hardly even knew you

D            A7         G    A7   D
  You didn't touch us with your lies.

  C G D C G

        D                     C    G
  In the halcyon days of my late adolescence

     D                          C  G
  My goal seemed clearly in sight

D                        C            G
  Playing electric guitar with a beat group

        D               G
  We set the ballrooms alight

D                        C               G
  Camping it up for the dyed blonde receptionists

      D                  C         G
  Who told us we were al-ri-yi-yight

D                         C         G
  On an ego trip for a teenage superstar

     D                    C  G  D C G D C G D C G

  On thirty shillings a night.

D                           C         G
  And so it fell that I came up to London

     D                    C    G
  To look for fortune and fame

D                      C          G
  Starry eyed in my seaside successes

      D                      C  G
  And much too sure of the game.

D                 C     G
  First girl I met there

  D             C      G
  I thought I'd get there

D                           C           G
  But the first girl was nearly the last girl

      D                       C   G
  She left my eyes in the drain.


  Part II   (slower)
E|---------|
      A7        D            A7          D
  She sat on my floor in the dead of the night

  G         D                             A7
  Rolling a joint and looking round for a light

      G               D             G           D
  Her clothes were so black and her face was so white

                            A7
  How could I know what was right?

        G                 A7      D
  And I sat all huddled upon my bed

  G                  A7
  Watching her in my innocence

             G               A7              D
  And it was no sense at all, but too much sense

       A              G         D           A7  G  D
  That took me to the bridge of impotence.


     A7       D             A7            D
  Oh Artaud's anthology lay spread on the floor

      G                     D                    A7
  And the thoughts that she gave me, I'd not met before

      G             D             G              D
  And stranded half hypnotised, I watched her in awe

                               A7
  Of everything that she stood for.

        G                 A7         G                       D
  And I wanted more than anything to be like her with every sense

             G               A7            D
  But it was no sense at all, but too much sense

     A                G          D
  That took me to the bridge of impotence.


       A7            D    A7           D
  She came over to me and kissed me in play

  G         D                             A7
  Taking my hands between her legs as she lay

          G            D          G           D
  And she looked in my eyes but I turned them away

                          A7
  Finding no words fit to say.

        G            A7             G
  And I hated myself, but could not move

                  A7
  Shattered in my confidence,

             G                A7           D
  But it was no sense at all, but too much sense

       A              G         D
  That took me to the bridge of impotence.


          A7           D              A7          D
  Now the stare of the lightbulb tore holes in my brain

             G     D                        A7
  As she got up in silence that hung like a stain

        G         D         G            D
  And I wanted to speak, or call out her name,

                           A7
  But how could I begin to explain?

         G                              A7            G
  And my prosecuting room still holds a strand of her hair

     A7
  In evidence,

             G                A7           D
  But it was no sense at all, but too much sense

       A              G         D
  That took me to the bridge of impotence.


       A7          D         A7                        D
  Oh I still think about her when the night fills with rain

      G               D                 A7
  And speaks with its voices uneasy and vain

        G            D        G        D
  And I think were I maybe to find her again,

                               A7
  Oh I'd probably see her more plain.

        G                         A7        G
  And I should have known she was just like me,

                        A7
  It was after all only commonsense,

                G             A7           D
  But it was no sense at all, but too much sense

       A              G         D
  That took me to the bridge of impotence...



Segue to part 3.

The chords for each verse are the same.



  Part III      (faster, tempo 1)
E|---------|-

D   C  G (repeat)

D                         C        G
  At first I didn't go out much at all

              D              C       G
  I just stayed home in my chains.

D                     C             G
  Picking over the threads of my confidence

      D                     C   G
  And searching for the remains.

D                        C      G
  And when I couldn't stand any more of it

    D               C     G
  Going down to a club.

D                      C                G
  Mixing in with the sounds and the crowds

            D               C   G  D  C  G  D  C  G
  I let the music cover me up.


D                           C      G
  And so it came that I stood disillusioned

      G                    C       G
  By everything I'd been told.

D                   C            G
  I just didn't believe love existed

            D                      C   G
  They were all just digging for gold.

D                          C         G
  Widows and bankers and typists and bus'nessmen

    D                     C          G
  Loved each other they said.

D                            C           G
  But all it was though was just a manoeuvre

           D              C   G  D  C  G  D  C  G
  The quickest way into bed.


      F#7               D    A7        D   A   Bm  A
  And only, lonely, the harlequins and painted phonies

  Bm           F#7 Bm      F#7
  Pick their ways, through the haze

     D         A7       D
  Of highs and lows and blues

      G                F#        G              F#
  And all that I could do was to pick my way to you

  G               F#
  Though I didn't tell you

           G               F#
  You were just a thing to prove

            Bm    Bb+   Bm7      Bm6       Em G     Bm
  But I was hungry when found you, but I'm al-right now.


F#7                        D   A7       D A  Bm A
  They sigh, they lie, the refugees and superhe-roes

Bm      F#7 Bm   F#7     D        A7          D
  On ice,     so nice to see you, what's your name?

      G                F#        G               F#
  And all that I could do was to say the same to you

  G                F#                 G             F#
  Take you for the moment, though the moment wasn't true

            Bm    Bb+     Bm       Bm6      Em G     Bm
  But I was hungry when I found you and I'm al-right now.


             Em         A7               D
  Though the street lamp cut through the curfew

     Em           A7         D
  It shed no light on our mind

                Em        A7      D
  It would have been so easy to love you

     G7          F#7
  At any other time.


F#7                D       A7     D     A    Bm  A
  Only lonely, you came to me the night hung coldly

  Bm        F#7 Bm         F#7    D          A7          D
  In your eyes, some other time I might have stayed with you

      G                F#        G              F#
  But all that I could do was to turn around to you

  G                   F#               G             F#
  Thanks for what you gave me now it's time to say "Adieu"

           Bm    Bb+     Bm7  Bm6          Em G     Bm
  Oh I was hungry when I found you but I'm al-right now.


         Em  G    Bm          Bb+
  Ba ba ba      alright now

D  C  G (repeat)

D                         C       G
  And so I followed the other's example

         D                C       G
  And jumped into the melee

D                             C                  G
  In hunting grounds of Earls Court and Swiss Cottage

    D                    C     G
  I did my best to get laid

D                 C G   D               C G
  Beer cans and parties, deb girls and arties

  D                       C          G
  Bouncing around in the social confusion

D                           C   G
  Missing and making the grade.


D   C G   D  C G  D  G  D               D
 (Instrumental Solo - ad lib)



   Part IV    (Slower)
 E|---------|

N.C            C                 D
The very first time I must confess

                C                  D
I thought you'd be like all of the rest

            C                 G
And we'd be strangers once again

         F               A7
By the time we were dressed.

               C                 D
But when you'd smoked your cigarette

                    C                D
And talked of some people that we'd met

                C             G            F          A7
I found myself asking was it set, did you have to go yet.

     F                        C7
And so you laughed and then kissed me

    Bb             C         G
And stayed for the whole weekend

  F                       C
Although the bed was so narrow

   Bb           C7      G       D  C  D
We had to sleep end to end.


           C                         D
And so the weeks passed through my brain

         C         D
In their dadaistic chain

               C            G           F        A7
I found myself seeing you again, and again and again

            C                  D
And all you gave you gave it free

             C                D
Asking for nothing back from me

              C             G        F      A7
You gave yourself unselfishly as a part of me.

       F                         C7
And where I thought that just plucking

    Bb            C        G
The fruits of the bed was enough

   F                      C
It grew to be less like fucking

    Bb        C7       G     D  G  D7
And more like making love.


    G               D              C         G      Dsus4   D
 Of all the girls I ever knew some loved and some denied me

    G               D              C       G       Dsus4  D
And all the words I ever said have been no use to hide me

    G               D              C      G      Dsus4   D
And all the songs I ever sung each one of them untied me

    G               D               C        G         Dsus4
And all the girls I ever loved have left themselves inside me.