| Gm C | Gm C | Gm C | Gm C |

 
[Verse]
       Gm                 C
If you reach back in your memory
  Gm                C
A little bell might ring
        Gm              C
'Bout a time that once existed
     Gm           C
When money wasn't king
        Cm               F
If you stretch your imagination
     Cm             F
I'll tell you all a tale
 Bb               F
About a time when everything
Bb     F      C
Wasn't up for sale


[Chorus]
      Gm                 C
There was this cat named Johnny
    F                 Bb
Who loved to play and sing
     Bb    F      | Gm C | Gm C |
When money wasn't king


[Verse]
     Gm         C
We'd all get so excited
     Gm                C
When John would give a show
     Gm               C
We'd raise the cash between us
    Gm                 C
And down the road we'd go
   Cm                 F
To hear him play that music
     Cm                F
That spoke right to my soul
Bb            F
Every verse a diamond
Bb    F      C
Every chorus gold


[Chorus]
    Gm           C
The sound was my salvation
       F     Bb
It was only everything
       Bb    F      | Gm C | Gm C |
Before money became king


[Middle 8]
       F                 C
Well I ain't sure how it happened
      F                  C
And I don't know exactly when
    F              C
But everything got bigger
       F                 C
And the rules began to bend
        G             Dm
And the TV taught the people
       G                 Dm
How to get their hair to shine
    G                  Dm
And how sweet life can be
       G            Dm
If you keep a tight behind
         Am                 Dm
And they raised the cost of living
    Am                Dm
And how could we have known
       Am                  Dm
They'd double the price of tickets
                         2/4   4/4                     
   Am             | Bb | Bb F | C |
To go see Johnny's show


[Chorus]
      Gm                C
So we hocked all our possessions
       F             Bb
And we sold a little dope
         Bb     F     | Gm C | Gm C | Gm C | Gm C |
And went off to rock'n'roll


[Verse]
Gm               C
We arrived there early
   Gm           C
In time to see rehearsal
    Gm                C
And John came out and lip-synched
    Gm               C
His new lite beer commercial
    Cm           F
And as the crowd arrived
   Cm             F
As far as I could see
    Bb             F
The faces were all different
          Bb     F          C
There was no one there like me


[Verse]
     Gm            C
They sat in golden circles
     Gm                 C
And waiters sevred them wine
    Gm                     C
And talked through all the music
        Gm              C
And to John paid little mind
    Cm            F
And way up in the nosebleeds
   Cm                 F
We watched him on the screen
        Bb              F
They'd hung between the billboards
   Bb      F           C
So cheaper seats could see


[Middle 8]
       F                  C
Johnny rocked that golden circle
    F           C
And all those VIPs
         F              C
And that music that had freed us
   F              C
Became a tired routine
        G               Dm
And I saw his face in close-up
          G              Dm
Trying to give it all he had
        G                 Dm
And sometimes his eyes betrayed him
           G              Dm
You could see that he was sad
      Am               Dm
And I tried to rock on with him
      Am            Dm
But I slowly became bored
           Am                Dm
Could that man on stage with everything
                         2/4   4/4                     
Am                | Bb | Bb F | C |
Somehow need some more?


[Chorus] (variation)
      Gm               C
There was no use in pretending
   F             Bb
No magic left to hear
Gm            C
All the music gave me
      F                Bb
Was a craving for lite beer
     Gm                 C
As I walked out of the arena
   F             Bb
My ears began to ring
    Bb    F     | Gm C | Gm C | Gm C | Gm C |
And money became king