Em                  D
    As the preacher stumbles
Am                     Em
    From his castle of sin
Em                         D
    And his vision gets distorted
Am                      Em
    From the bottle within
Em                      D
    But his mouth slurs out the words
Am               Em
    From a sober heart
Em                     D
    They cut deep into open nerves
Am                      Em
    Then they tear you apart

[Chorus]
            C
This is the ballad
D                      Em
   Of the bullet proof poet
            C
This is the ballad,
D             Em
Baby, don’t I know it

[Verse 2]
Em                   D
    He gave Jesus tattoos and
Am                   Em
    Took the devil's soul
Em             D
    He got the angels drunk and
Am                             Em
    Gave them the gutter for a home

[Chorus]
            C
This is the ballad
D                      Em
   Of the bullet proof poet
            C
This is the ballad,
D             Em
Baby, don’t I know it

[Verse 3]
Em                    D
    He loved the most beautiful girl
Am                  Em
    In the midst of wine
Em                      D
    A last kiss through cigarette smoke
Am                                           Em
    Then she quietly slipped off the edge of time

[Chorus]
            C
This is the ballad
D                   Em
Of the bullet proof poet
            C
This is the ballad,
D          Em
   Don’t I know it