Waiting for the great leap forward    (video)

 

    C - Em - Am (2x)

 

    C                           Am               F                       G

1. It may have been Camelot for Jack and Jacqueline,

                        C                 Am                   F                 G

    but on the Che Guevara highway filling up with gasoline,

     C                     Am                   F                        G

    Fidel Castro's brother spies a rich lady who's crying

             C                   Am                                F                     G

    over luxury's disappointment, so he walks over and he's trying

          F                        G                 C            G               Am                          

    to sympathise with her, but he thinks that he should warn her,

                     F                  G                            C  - Em - Am - C - Em - Am

    that the Third World is just around the corner.

 

     C                  Am           F              G

2. In the Soviet Union a scientist is blinded

                C                   Am                     F                 G

    by the resumption of nuclear testing and he is reminded

            F                 G                    C      G    Am                          

    that Dr. Robert Oppenheimer's optimism fell

F - G                          C    - Em - Am     - C - Em - Am

          at the first hurdle.

 

    C                         Am                  F                  G

3. In the Cheese Pavilion and the only noise I hear

                C                           Am                            F                        G

    is the sound of someone stacking chairs and mopping up spilt beer,

             F                         G                    C         G       Am                          

    and someone asking questions and basking in the light

           F                           G                                  C - Em- Am- C- Em- Am

of the fifteen fame filled minutes of the fanzine writer.

 

      C                      Am             F                           G

4. Mixing pop and politics, he asks me what the use is,

       C                 Am                             F            G

    I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses,

                F                        G                        C           G       Am                          

    while looking down the corridor out to where the van is waiting

           F                         G             C             - Em - Am      - C - Em - Am

    I'm looking for the Great Leap Forwards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      C                        Am                   F                                  G

5. Jumble sales are organized and pamphlets have been posted,

      C             Am                                  F                  G

    even after closing time there's still parties to be hosted.

                         F                     G                 C         G           Am                          

    You can be active with the activists or sleep in with the sleepers

                          F                        G              C              - Am

    while you're waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.

 

             F                          G                     

    Oh, one leap forward, two leaps back,

            C G          Am

    will politics get me the sack ?

       F                       G               C            - Am

    Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.

 

               F                                                G                     

    Well, here comes the future and you can't run from it,

         C                  G            Am

    if you've got a blacklist, I want to be on it,

       F                       G              C            - Am

    waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.

 

                       F                                 G                      

    Well, it's a mighty long way down rock ‘n’ roll,

               C              G          Am

    from Top of the Pops to drawing the dole,

       F                       G              C            - Am

    waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.

 

       F                          G                     

    If no one out there understands,

                      C           G              Am

    start your own revolution, and cut out the middleman,

       F                       G              C            - Am

    waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             F                                G                     

    In a perfect world we’d all sing in tune,

             C        G          Am

    but this is reality, so give me some room,

       F                       G              C            - Am

    waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.

          F                           G                     

    So join the struggle while you may,

                  C          G      Am

    the revolution is just a T-shirt away,

       F                       G              C            - Am

    waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.

 

      F                       G              C            - Am

+ Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.           (6x) ....

 

(orig. = capo 4th)    (Billy Bragg)