Intro: Am
G Am
He was born in Miller's mansion when the mistress was asleep
C G Am
The secret son of the chambermaid and master
G Am
And they sent him into hiding, for his schooling and his keep
C G Am
With the Carlyles and the other lucky bastards
Am G Am
Now his toady tutors fawn and praise the man that he's become
C G Esus E
Though he's taken to the Laudanum and Faro
Am G Am
And he walks the streets like velvet death with his daddy's money on his breath
C G Am
And a shame he cannot shake, down in his marrow
Am Dm
When day fades to black, you must not listen to the killer
C G Esus E
Pretty voices keep you beautiful and bound
Am Dm
'Cause the simple sorry fact of your existence, Preston Miller
F G Am
Is enough to bring this house of evil down
Am G Am
One night upon some drunken dare, he writes his absent sire
C G Am
Saying, "Father, I would fain come home to meet thee"
G Am
And though his worthless friends guffaw at this sudden show of fire
C G Am
Another round of bourbon and it's easy
Am G Am
And this letter finds his father in his tower far away
C G Am
And the hoary claw that holds it shakes and trembles
Am G
Is it grief over a life misspent, or love or greed or mere contempt
C G Am
Or something darker stirring in his temples
Am Dm
When day fades to black, you must not listen to the killer
C G Esus E
Pretty voices keep you beautiful and bound
Am Dm
'Cause the simple sorry fact of your existence, Preston Miller
F G Am
Is enough to bring this house of evil down
Am G Am
A week gone by, he's wakened by a knocking at his door
C G Am
And he drags himself half-wasted to the threshold
G Am
It's a message in his father's quill saying, "Meet me, scion, if you will
C G Am
At the very stroke of midnight in the meadow"
Am G Am
Now he has combed his laggard locks, and hired a comely roan
C G Esus E
And he's met his comrade fops around the fountain
Am G Am
And he's bidden each a grand goodbye, and he's cantered off alone
C G Am
To meet his aged father in the mountains
Am Dm
When day fades to black, you must not listen to the killer
C G Esus E
Pretty voices keep you beautiful and bound
Am Dm
'Cause the simple sorry fact of your existence, Preston Miller
F G Am
Is enough to bring this house of evil down
Am G Am
"Oh, Father dear, come out, come out, I honour thee tonight,"
C G Am
He shouts as he goes weaving in the saddle
G Am
He sees the stars go blinking by, like the twinkling in a trollop's eye
C G Am
And six riders riding madly in the shadows
Am G Am
This morning sailed a ship of fools across a sea of gin
C G Am
With a blind and grinning Reaper at the tiller
Am G Am
And it drove an aging Jacob to his lone and bitter end
C G Am
And a bullet through the brain of Preston Miller