{title: Ticking}
{subtitle: Elton John}
F
C/F
Bb/F
F
”An extremely quiet child
Bb/F
” they called you in your sch
F
ool reports
Bb/F
F
”He’s always taken interest
Eb/F
in the
Bb/F
subjects that he’s
F
taught”
Fsus4
F
Fsus4
F
Am
So what was it that brought the squad car screaming up your
Gm
drive
To
C
notify your parents of the
Bb
manner in which you
F
died
Bb/F
At St. Patricks every Sunday, Father Fletcher heard your sins
“Oh, he’s unconcerned with competition he never cares to win”
But blood stained a young hand that never held a gun
And his parents never thought of him as their troubled son
F
”Now
Am/E
you’ll
Dm
never get to Heaven”
Gm
Mama said Reme
C
mber Mama sai
Bb
d
F
Ticking,
A7
ticking
Dm
”Grow up straight and true blue,
Gm
Run along to bed”
C
Hear
it
C/Bb
,
C/A
hear
it
Gm
, ticking,
F
ticking
They had you holed up in a downtown bar screaming for a priest
Some gook said “His brain’s just snapped” then someone called the police
You knifed a Negro waiter who had tried to calm you down
Oh you’d pulled a gun and told them all to lay still on the ground
Promising to hurt no one, providing they were still
A young man tried to make a break, with tear-filled eyes you killed
That gun butt felt so smooth and warm cradled in your palm
Oh your childhood cried out in your head “they mean to do you harm”
Dm
”Don’t ever ride on the devil’s knee”
Gm
Mama
said
Re
C
member mama sai
Bb
d
F
Ticking,
A7
ticking
Dm
”Pay your penance well, my child
Gm
Fear where angels tread”
C
Hear
it
C/Bb
,
C/A
hear
it
Gm
, ticking,
F
ticking
Within an hour the news had reached the media machine
A male Caucasian with a gun had gone berserk in Queens
The area had been sealed off, the kids sent home from school
Fourteen people lying dead in a bar they called the Kicking Mule
Oh they pleaded to your sanity for the sake of those inside
“Throw out your gun, walk out slow just keep your hands held high”
But they pumped you full of rifle shells as you stepped out the door
Oh you danced in death like a marionette on the vengeance of the law
“You’ve
Dm
slept too long in silence”
Gm
Mama
said
Re
C
member mama sai
Bb
d
F
Ticking,
A7
ticking
Dm
”Crazy boy, you’ll only wind up with strange
Gm
notions in your head”
C
Hear
it
C/Bb
,
C/A
hear
it
Gm
, ticking,
F
ticking
F
C/F
Bb/F
