The bugger in the short sleeves fucked my wife
Did it quick and split
Back home, fresh as a daisy to Maisy, oh Maisy

And the twelve-bore it stood in the corner
Quite operatic in its self-disgust
It blew him all over the living room floor
Like parrot shit, parrot spit, parrot shit was shot

Now suppose it was someone familiar
Someone we all would know
embarrassing denouement, n'est-ce pas?
Familiar hyperbole

And there would go the secret plot
The piss had missed the hole in the pot
Like that ancient teenage dream
From soul to poison soul to poison soul

Guts, guts, got no guts
And stitches don't help at all
Guts, guts, got no guts
Holes in the body, holes in the legs
Holes in the forehead, holes in the head
Holes in the body, holes in the legs
There should never be holes at all
There should never be holes at all

So, kill all you want or more
Make sure, do it right
Dead is dead, and door nails forget
And then you'll notice
How the waster and the wasted
Get to look like one another
In the end, in the end
In the end, in the end
In the end, in the end

In the end, in the end


Lyrics submitted by Santo Arma Re-dux

Guts Lyrics as written by John Davies Cale

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Guts song meanings
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4 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    John Cale has many finest moments: this is one of them. Quite a simple story (by Cale standards), a cuckold totally loses it & blows away the bugger in the short sleeves who fucked his wife. What an opening line! The first time you hear it you go "You WHAT???". And listen to Cale's voice getting wilder & wilder; nobody can do bonkers shrieking like him.

    morbid moragon May 27, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    it is about kevin ayers, who did fuck john cale's wife.

    i think he does what people with a good imagination do: he acts out the violence and revenge in his head [people with no imagination might actually act violent, sadly]. but in the end, violence and violent revenge do not make sense.

    if anyone has a clue on the french bit etc. please go ahead.

    ohyesjohncaleon April 08, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    edit: john cale's then wife.

    ohyesjohncaleon April 08, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    "Embarrasing denouement, ne c'est pas?" I believe means "Embarrassing result, is it not?"
    In context of the verse it makes sense as being embarrassed by the hyperbolic nature of someone familiar fucking his wife and not a complete unknown stranger.

    ConnieLon June 07, 2011   Link

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