The Boy With the Arab Strap Chords by Belle and Sebastian

[Start]

[Intro]

[Verse]
G G7                                             
■ ■  A mile and a half on a bus takes a long time
                                                 C          
The odor of old prison food takes a long time to pass you by
G                    G7                     
Day upon day of this wandering gets you down
                                         C            
Nobody gives you a chance or a dollar in this old town
G7                             G       
Hovering silence from you is a giveaway
G7                                
Squalor and smoke's not your style
  G7                   
I don't like this place
C           
We better go


[Chorus]
G      G7                                  
Then I compare notes with your older sister
                                      C                D
I am a lazy get she is as pure as the cold driven snow ■


[Inst]

[Verse]
G                                                  
■ What did you learn from your time in the solitary
G7           G   
Cell of your mind
          G7                           C            
There was noises the distractions from anything good
        C              
And the old prison food


[Chorus]
G                                       
Colour my life with the chaos of trouble
G                                           
'cause anything's better than posh isolation
C                 
■ I missed the bus
         C                
You were laid on your back
                           D    
With the boy with the Arab strap
                           G    
With the boy from the Arab strap


[Inst]
C G C D D7 D C G
■ ■ ■ ■ ■  ■ ■ ■


[Verse]
G7                G                               
It's something to speak of the way you are feeling
G                        
To crowds there assembled
                          C           
Do you ever feel you have gone too far
G                                   
Everyone suffers in silence a burden
    G                                          
The man who drives minicabs down in old Compton
C            
The Asian man
         C               
With his love hate affair
                D         G D
With his racist clientele ■ ■


[Chorus]
D7   G                                 
■  A central location for you is a must
                                                    C                
As you stagger about making free with your lewd and lascivious boasts
   G                                                      
We all know you are soft 'cause we've all seen you dancing
                                  G7          G             C   
We all know you're hard 'cause we all saw you drinking from noon
           C    
Until noon again
                               D     D7
You're the boy with the filthy laugh ■ 
           D                 G    
You're the boy with the Arab strap


[Inst]
C G C G
■ ■ ■ ■


[Outro]
                           G7                         
Strapped to the table with suits from the shelter shop
      N.C.                                                
Comic celebrity takes a back seat as the cigarette catches
N.C.                        
And sets off the smoke alarm
N.C.                                      
What do you make of the cool set in London
N.C.                                                                
You're constantly updating your hit parade of your ten biggest wanks
N.C.                                
She's a waitress and she's got style


[End]