Chords for Primrose Hill - Loudon Wainwright III

There's something on the new album that I thought maybe if I could make a request that you'd play
and I'm not sure if this was written _ _ as a place in England in mind, Primrose Hill?
Oh yeah.
Yeah, that, well I guess for me the one thing that I found that was a little bit different about it
than some of the other things on the release is that it_
It's not about me.
It deals with a social issue, yeah.
[F#] _ _ Homelessness.
Yeah, most of these songs are about me but this [D] is_
_ _ When I lived in London I lived in a real nice neighbourhood called St.
John's Wood
and near there is this park called Primrose Hill and I used to ride [E] my bike through there
and this guy, I noticed this guy for a number of weeks, he appeared to be living [D] in the park,
[B] a [F#] homeless guy, _ had a guitar and [D] a dog _ [F#] and surrounded by lots of cans of,
empty cans of tenants' lager which is this terrible Scottish [D] alcohol. _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ [F#m] _ [D] Sometimes it's like that, you walk past something often enough just on a walk,
whether you're going anywhere in particular or to a job or whatever
and for enough days in a row you notice a scene and I guess as a writer, you know, then you write about it.
Well I noticed this guy and then I noticed that he wasn't there anymore,
he was conspicuously absent and I feared for the worst.
And actually it turned out that he has died.
_ So anyway_ _ _ _
_ [G] Living on the [D] side of Primrose Hill, _
_ [G] drinking cans of tenants just can't seem to get my fill.
_ _ [A] _ Got a beat up guitar and a dirty old sleeping bag.
_ [G] And this mangy dog who's tailed all white.
[D] _ Sun's been shining down on my hillside bed.
[G] That's not the only reason my face is so red.
This [A] nasty cut on my nose, _ it's not from no fight, [G] I just fell down yesterday.
_ Maybe it was last night and I [D] used to sing and play down in the underground. _ _ _
[G] But a few years back they started cracking down.
[A] Now I'm living on the side of Primrose Hill. _
_ [G] I'm no tourist attraction, _ but I give them a thrill.
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [F#m] _
[A] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] Yeah I see you riding by on your flash bicycle.
_ _ Hey they can do you for that on Primrose Hill.
_ _ _ _ [A] A pretty young mother goes by, she's pushing her pram.
[G] Her little baby leans out just to see what I am.
And [D] from the top of the hill, _ there's a hell of a view.
[G] _ Houses of Parliament in London Zoo.
Those [A] politicians all chatting, they trumpet and roar.
That [G] must be what those hyenas all are laughing for.
[D] When you come up to London, it sure is something to see.
_ _ [G] It's somewhere to go, but it's no place to be.
And there's [A] two things keeping me from going round the bend.
_ _ [G] I got my music and this dog for [D] a friend. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Cause life gets slippery when you're living on the side.
[G] Yeah I know I should quit drinking, but I haven't even tried.
[A] I got my muds licking my fingers and I'm wetting my lips.
[G] I got a can of extra strong and a bag of chicken and chips.
If I [D] had a little money, _ _ I'd get a few _ [G] things.
Like a bottle of vodka and a pack of new guitar strings.
And [A] I guess I could die here on the side of this hill.
I don't [G] know no tourist attraction, but I'd give them a [D] chill.
And I'm living on the side of Primrose Hill.
Drinking cans of tennis just can't seem to get my fill.
[A] And I got a beat up guitar and a dirty old sleeping bag.
And this mangy dog whose tail [D] don't wag. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Thank you audience of one.
Hopefully the folks at home are clapping [F] also.
They are clamoring outside the doorway there.
Loudon Wainwright is our guest here at WFUV.
That is a real sweet piece of music, Primrose Hill.
And you know obviously from what you write in there.
[A] Mentioning the houses of parliament and the London Zoo.
[A#] And same thing here, you can be right at the Harley Davidson Cafe.
But in the next doorway, these spooky hollow frightened eyes can be looking out.
And you see the difference between the two levels of living.
And you try [E] to figure out how can this be.
You say that this guy, [F] and you had seen him for quite some time, disappeared.
And you found out that he had died.
He actually, there's a bench now in Primrose Hill.
This all happened, [G] I wrote this song probably almost two years ago.
And then about a year after I wrote it.
_ He turned out to be kind of a famous guy.
Famous in that neighborhood called Cat Collins.
His nickname was Cat.
And he was also a heroin addict.
And I think [F] that's actually how he died.
But he was, _ _ [E]
there's a bench there [D#] with his name on it.
And it turns out that he is my age.
We're more or less the same.
He's 51, or died when he was 50 I guess.
I think, I don't know, I feel anyway.
And I'm not sure how many people do.
But that many of us are very often in life only a couple of steps away from possibly being in those same