Strawbs - Hanging In The Gallery Ukulele

song written by Dave Cousins
 C              C         C
Is it the painter or the picture
Am                  C
Hanging in the gallery?
Am                      C
Admired by countless thousands
        Am                C
Who attempt to read the secrets
          C            D     
Of his vision of his very soul.
               C           C
Is it the painter or the picture
Am               C
Hanging in the gallery?
   Am            C
Or is it but a still life
        Am            C
Of his own interpretation
        Am               C
Of the way that God had made us
          C   D      C   
In the image of His eye?
             C             C
Is it the sculptor or the sculpture
Am                 C
standing  in the gallery?
Am                   C
Touched by fleeting strangers
     Am                  C
Who desire to feel the strength of hands
           C     D
That realised a form of life.
              C             C
Is it the sculptor or the sculpture
Am                C
standing in the gallery?
   Am              C
Or is it but the tenderness
        Am                  C
With which his hands were guided
      Am          C
To discard the unessentials
        C       D       C
And reveal the perfect truth?
             C           C
Is it the actor or the drama
Am               C
Playing to the gallery?
Am               C
Heard in every corner
          Am        C
Of the theatre of cruelty\par
      C               D
That masks the humour in his speech.
           C            C
Is it the actor or the drama
Am                 C
Playing to the gallery?
    Am             C
Or is it but the character
    Am         C              Am
Of any single member of the audience
      C
That forms the plot
    C        D     C
Of each and every play?
            C             C
Is it the singer or his likeness
Am               C
Hanging in the gallery?
Am                        C
Tongue black, still and swollen,
          Am                   C
His eyes staring from their sockets,
        C                D
He is silent now, will sing no more.
           C              C
Is it the singer or his likeness
Am              C
Hanging in the gallery?
    Am             C
Or is it but his conscience,
   Am              C
Insecurity, and loneliness,
      Am        C
When destiny becomes at last
        C  C  D    C
The cause of his demise?