The Ballad Of Charles Whitman Chords by Kinky Friedman

[N] I [A] love you, dude!
That's my boy! _
[C#] _ _ [F] _ Charles [G#m] Whitman!
_ [G#] _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Em] Thank you very much, [F] folks.
It takes a [E] genius [D] audience to make a [B] genius [C#] performance. _ _
_ Charles [G] _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ Whitman.
[G#m] _ _ [E]
Thank you!
_ [C#] _ [D] _ _ _ [Fm] Charles Whitman, [F] the famous Texas [C#m] talent of murder, _ _
really [D] caught on with the [C#] imagination of the world.
[A#] _
Do you have Eagle Scouts [Em] here, Boy Scouts?
[G] You don't have that? [F] You do?
_ _ [E] Well, he [F] was_
You're all Boy Scouts?
You're all [C#] Eagle Scouts?
_ _ _ [G#m] _ Well, [C#] Charles Whitman [D] was an Eagle Scout.
So was [C#] Charles Manson.
[D] And so was [F] Charles Manson's [C#]
[D] sidekick,
_ Charlie Tex [C] Watson.
And [A#] they're all named Charles.
_ [C#] [A#] Is anybody here named Charles? _
_ [G#m] _ _ [C#] Any Eagle Scouts here?
[G] _
_ [G#] _ _ [F] _ _ Sounds like there [A] might have been.
_ [D] _ _ _ _ I'll tell you the guy, the name you need to really watch for,
and that is [F#] Wayne. _
[G#] If you [F] Google Wayne with mass [G#] murders,
[F] you will see there's [G#m] thousands of them.
[C#] The guy's named Wayne, [F#] or their middle name is Wayne.
And [C#] that's because their [D] dad always loved John Wayne.
Names a kid after [C#m] John Wayne,
and the kid, of course, [B] can't come up to that.
[C#] And one day he just [G#] loses [Fm] it and kills a lot of people.
[D] _ [C] _ [F] And then, shoot, there's John [E] Wayne Gacy.
[C] Well, you don't know [C#] these people.
[Em] And Wayne [D] Williams, the guy who [C#] killed all the little children in Atlanta.
[D] _ Gomer, Wayne Henley.
_ [F] And that's just three to start with.
So I [D] was in Houston _ [E] last month
giving them this story about Wayne and [C#m] the murderers.
And I [F#] said, is anybody here named Wayne?
And [D] there was [F] about five guys [B] there named Wayne.
_ [C#] And they said there would be [D] more, but they were all at [C#] the rodeo.
The [A#] rodeo was intense. _
_ Now I've [C#m] got a [G#] tragic white hat this [A#] week. _
[D] _ _ We should have ended on a pole [C#] vault, but I think we did.
_ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ [D] Anyway, folks, as my spiritual advisor, Billy Joe Shaver, says,
if you don't love [B] Jesus, go to hell.
_ _ [C#m] _ _ [B] _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _
He was sitting up there more than I was.
[G] Way up there on the Texas [D] tower,
shooting from the 27th [A] floor.
Hey!
_ _ [D] Even church would slice or [G] slit their way.
Connor Charles [D] Joseph Whitman, he won't be an architect no more.
_ Got up that [G] morning, [D] calm and cool. _
Picked up his guns [A] and walked through school. _ _
_ [D] All the while, he smiled so [G] sweetly.
Then he blew their minds [D] completely.
They'd never [C#m] seen an Eagle Scout [D] so cruel.
_ _ Won't you think of the shame and degradation.
[G] Falls to his [D] administration.
He put on such a bold and drastic [A] show. _ _
[D] The chancellor cried his [G] adolescence.
And of course, it's most [D] unpleasant,
but I've got to [G] admit, it was a lovely [D] way to go.
_ There was [G] a rumor _ [F#m] about a [D] tumor
_ _ nestled at the base of his [A] brain.
He [D] was sitting up there with his 36th [G] magnum.
Laughing while the men's backing up.
Who are [E] we to say the [D] boy's insane?
_ _ Now Charlie was awful disappointed.
[G] Guess he thought he was anointed
[D] to do a deed so low down and [A] so mean. _ _ _
[D] Students looked up from the classes.
Had to [G] stop and scratch their asses.
[D] Who'd believe he'd once been a Marine?
_ _ _ [G] Now Charlie made the honor roll [D] with ease.
Most all of his grades was [A] As and Bs.
_ _ _ [D] A rearward snort and drink of sweet [G] drink.
Charlie proved to be a [F#] crowd pleaser
though [D] he hadn't been known to make a couple Cs. _
_ Some [A] were dying, some were weeping.
[F#]
Some were studying, some were sleeping.
[G#] Some were [G] shouting, Texas, [F#] thou the one! [D] Woo-hoo! _
_ Some were running, some were [G] falling.
Some were screaming, some were [D] bawling.
Some thought the revolution had begun.
_ The doctors tore [G]
his poor brain [D] down.
_ _ But not a snatch of that [A] list could be found. _ _
[D] Most folks couldn't figure just why he did [G] it.
They would could, but would not admit it.
[C#] There's still a lot of Eagle [D] Scouts around.
There was [G] a rebel _ man by [D] the timber. _ _
Nestled at the base [A] of his _ frame.
He [D] was sitting out there [C#] with his 36 [G] rifle.
Firing wild, the enemy's back up.
[D] Who are we [A] to say the boy's in?
Who are we to say the boy's in?
_ [C#m] Who are we to say [F#] the boy's [G] insane?
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ Who are we to say the boy's insane? _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ [A] _ [G#] _ _ [C#] _ [B] _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _
[B] _ _ [F] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _