The Day It Fell Apart

INTRO:
Am G  Am G  Am G  G Am

VERSE:
 Am                    C          
Just a little general hospital, in
    G              Em
 a little factory town.
     Em               G      
The board put me in charge for 
          Am             D
mainly keeping prices down.
   C                F            
I hadn't touched a patient since 
G  Em
1982,
        Am            F      
But the day of the explosion I 
       Em            Am
remembered what to do.

   F              Am           
At eleven in the morning, we all 
    G                E
heard the factory blow.
     Am                 F         
The blast took out the windows, 
       D                  E
and the shrapnel fell like snow.
          F                G   
We could get no help from out of 
            Em            Am
town for half a day or more.
        F               D         
We had near a thousand casualties 
     G               Am
and beds for ninety-four.


CHORUS:
    Am                 G       
And can you keep your head, your 
   Am                 G
backbone, or your heart?
   Am                 G           
We all found out the answer on the
               Am  Am  Am
 day it fell apart.


VERSE:
        Am                C       
It was worse than combat medicine;
      G                  Em
 supplies were draining fast.
 Em           G           Am     
Bandages ran out and antiseptics 
          D
wouldn't last.
        C            F            
I took all the able-bodied I could
  G                Em
 catch inside the door
     Am                 F         
And made them help the doctors to 
    Em                    Am
go scrounge supplies and more.

     F              Am            
I invented laws to tell them 
      G          E
saying in such emergency
   Am              F              
Forget your usual job and boss, 
   D                E
your orders come from me.
   F                G       
I sent the cops to commandeer 
  Em           Am
anything in reach:
  F           D             
Food or disinfectant cloth or 
  G            Am
alcohol or bleach.


CHORUS:
Continúa después del anuncio
    Am                 G       
And can you keep your head, your 
   Am                 G
backbone, or your heart?
   Am                 G           
We all found out the answer on the
               Am  Am  Am
 day it fell apart.


VERSE:
     Am           C               
The janitor ran cleanup squad, the
  G                   Em
 cook maintained supplies,
     Em           G               
The garbageman removed the ones 
   Am              D
who died before our eyes.
      C                    F      
The clerks burned all our papers 
        G            Em
to boil water on the fire
      Am         F                
For sterilizing instruments, as 
   Em              Am
the body count went higher.

   F                Am            
A local healthfood herbalist 
   G             Em
brought everything he had.
     Am              F            
The painkillers were useful, and 
    D                 E
the poultices weren't bad.
   F                 G            
A smack and cocaine pusher handed 
Em               Am
us his whole supply.
     F           D            G  
The quality was lousy, but a few 
            Am
more didn't die.


CHORUS:
    Am                 G       
And can you keep your head, your 
   Am                 G
backbone, or your heart?
   Am                 G           
We all found out the answer on the
               Am  Am  Am
 day it fell apart.


VERSE:
        Am            C           
We did triage in the parking lot, 
        G             Em
ranked minor, major, grave.
   Em               G             
A sad-eyed fireman gave the stroke
     Am                D
 to those we couldn't save.
      C               F     
Then sometime in the chaos, a 
     G              Em
director wandered in
    Am              F             
To tell us we were breaking rules,
       Em             Am
 what trouble we'd be in.

    F                  Am       
But if we'd swear the factory was 
   G              Em
not the fire's cause,
         Am           F           
And the harm was accidental, he'd 
    D              E
forget the broken laws.
      F                    G   
The staff sneaked up and grabbed 
            Em            Am
him, and tied him to a door.
    F                    D    
He gave them blood transfusions 
            G     Em   Am  Am Am
'till he hadn't any more.


INSTRUMENTAL: (Play VERSE chords)
C G Em
Em G Am D
C F G Em
Am F Em Am Am

F Am G Em
Am F D E
F G Em Am Am
F D G Am

CHORUS:
    Am                 G       
And can you keep your head, your 
   Am                 G
backbone, or your heart?
   Am                 G           
We all found out the answer on the
               Am  Am  Am
 day it fell apart.


VERSE:
 Am               C            
When that day was over, and we'd 
   G                 Em
saved all that we could,
    Em               G            
We saw that law and politics would
  Am                D
 hang us where we stood.
      C                   F       
We'd saved eight hundred lives but
            G         E
 shattered all authority.
   Am                  F 
I told them, "People, save 
                  Em            
yourselves, put all the blame on 
   Am
me."

   F                Am            
I took my books and instruments, 
      G              Em
and a few supplies beside,
 Am                F          D  
Packed my car and ran away to 
          E
open countryside.
    F             G          Em  
So now I live an outlaw, 
               Am
condemned by righteous men,
         F               D        
But for all the lives I saved that
             G           Am
 day ... I'd do it all again.


CHORUS:
    Am                 G       
And can you keep your head, your 
   Am                 G
backbone, or your heart?
   Am                 G           
We all found out the answer on the
               Am
 day it fell apart.

Am                 G      
Can you keep your head, your 
    Am                 G
backbone, or your heart?
       Am                 G       
You'll all found out the answer on
                    Am  Am  Am
 the day it falls apart.