The Hypertension Kid

Sound clip available

Em / / /   / / / /

      Em
Last night I met the Hypertension Kid

                            Cmaj7
Grimly chasing shorts with halves of bitter

      Bm                                A
In a Mayfair club they call the Early Quitter

    D               B7            C
He met my eyes and hit me for a quid



          Em
"I spend fortunes in this rat-trap" said the Kid

                              Cmaj7
"But the plush and flock soak up the brain's kerfuffle

       Bm                            A
And I like to see a servile barman shuffle

    D               B7                   C
If sympathy's your need let's hear your bid"



          Em
"It's my lousy memory" I told the Kid

                    Cmaj7
"What other men forget I still remember

      Bm                             A
The flies are still alive inside the amber

        D                B7             C
It's a garbage can with rubbish for a lid"



       Em
"Your metaphors are murder" said the Kid

                         Cmaj7
"I know the mood -- give in to it a little

     Bm                                 A
The man who shatters is the man who's brittle

 D                       B7              C
Lay off the brakes and steer into the skid



           Em
"Strained virtue warps the soul" announced the Kid

                            Cmaj7
"Those forced attempts at cleanliness that linger

      Bm                                 A
Like soap between your wedding ring and finger

         D            B7                  C
They're residues of which you're better rid



     Em
"For evil" said the Hypertension Kid

                   Cmaj7
"Is better contemplated in the deeds of others

      Bm                                A
Mass-murderers and men who knife their mothers

     D                    B7               C
Be glad that what you've done is all you did



       Em
"With me the problem's women" said the Kid

                    Cmaj7
"Befuddled, fondled under separate covers

Bm                                 A
One and all they've gone to other lovers

      D               B7              C
As I powered down to zero from the grid



        Em
"But I love the little darlings" sighed the Kid

                          Cmaj7
"The slide from grace is really more like gliding

    Bm                                        A
And I've found the trick is not to stop the sliding

        D               B7               C
But to find a graceful way of staying slid



Em
"As for the dreadful memories" said the Kid

                      Cmaj7
"The waste and poison in the spirit's river

   Bm                                   A
Relax your hands and let the bastards quiver

       D               B7                C
They tremble more the more you keep it hid"



    Em
We turned to leave the bar, me and the Kid

                  Cmaj7
I with lightened head and lessened terror

   Bm                               A
Toward the street, and he into the mirror

    D                B7            C / / /   / / / /
My second self, the Hypertension Kid

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