[INTRO: ]Am C G (x5) 
 
VERSE 1: 
Am       C              G 
The marionette has your number 
               Am                     C                   G 
It pullin your arms and legs till you can't stand on your own 
              Am                C             G 
Dragging your conscience on the stage and you heart gets rearranged 
        Am               C                G 
And you cannot tell your mentor from your maker 
Am          C                    G 
Look at the crowds bleeding with laughter 
         Am           C              G 
Over the way you entertain at beckon call 
           Am             C      G 
They don't see behind the lights or the painted background 
Am             C          G 
They just like to see you fall 
 
CHORUS: 
C Am        C            G 
    But you don't really mind 
C Am             C            G 
    Cause you're just wasting time 
C Am          C       G 
    You can't feel anything 
           C   Am C G 
    Just a boy on a string 
 
VERSE 2: 
Am       C            G 
I feel a sadness like Gapetto 
             Am           C            G 
Watching the life that he created run away, 
           Am            C           G 
Seeing the puppeteer's intrusion and holding the remains 
   Am               C       G 
Of puppets that had rotted away 
Am          C                G 
One day the curtain will not open 
               Am          C   G 
And all of the crowds will go away 
Am            C            G 
Someday those strings will choke you 
Am    C        G 
But until that day 
 
CHORUS