Dm
Mister Thompson calls the waiter, orders steak and baked potato
                                               A7
(Then) he leaves the bone and gristle and he never eats the skin

The busboy comes and takes it, with a cough contaminates it
                                        Dm
(And he) puts it in a can with coffee grounds and sardine tins
         A7                            Dm
And the truck comes by on Friday and carts it all away
     Gm                                C
A thousand trucks just like it are converging on the Bay

[Chorus]
    Dm
Oh, Garbage, garbage, garbage, garbage
                                  A7
We're filling up the seas with garbage

What will we do when there's no place left
                  Dm
To put all the garbage

[Verse]
Dm
Mr. Thompson starts his Cadillac and winds it down the freeway track
                                        A7
Leaving friends and neighbors in a hydrocarbon haze

He's joined by lots of smaller cars all sending gases to the stars
                                      Dm
There to form a seething cloud that hangs for thirty days
         A7                             Dm
And the sun licks down into it with an ultraviolet tongue
           Gm                         C
(Till it) turns to smog and then it settles in our lungs

[Chorus]
    Dm
Oh, Garbage, garbage, garbage, garbage
                                  A7
We're filling up the skies with garbage
                                                            Dm
What will we do, when there's nothing left to breathe but garbage

[Verse]
Dm
Getting home and taking off his shoes he settles with the evening news
                                    A7
While the kids do homework with the TV in one ear

While Superman for thousandth's time sell talking dolls and conquers crime
                                    Dm
(They) dutifully learn the date of birth of Paul Revere
A7                                      Dm
In the paper there's a piece about the mayor's middle name
          Gm                                C
(And) he gets it done in time to watch the all-star bingo game

[Chorus]
      Dm
Oh, Garbage
                                  A7
We're filling up our minds with garbage
A7
What will we do when there's nothing left to read
A7
And there's nothing left to need
A7
There's nothing left to watch
A7
There's nothing left to touch
A7
There's nothing left to walk upon
A7
And nothing left to ponder on
A7
Nothing left to see
                              Dm
And nothing left to be but garbage

[Verse]
Dm
In Mr. Thompson's factory they're making plastic Christmas trees
                                     A7
Complete with silver tinsel and a geodesic stand

The plastic's mixed in giant vats, from some conglomeration that's
                                            Dm
Been piped from deep within the Earth, or strip-mined from the land
     A7                                Dm
And if you ask them questions they say "why don't you see?
Gm                     C
It's absolutely needed for the economy."

[Chorus]
Dm
Oh, garbage, garbage, garbage
                                   A7
Their stocks and their bonds all garbage
A7
What will they do when their system go to smash
A7
There's no value to their cash
A7
There's no money to be made
A7
That there's a world to be repaid
A7
Their kids will read in history book
A7
About financiers and other crooks
A7
And feudalism and slavery
A7
And nukes and all their knavery
A7
To history's dustbin they're consigned,
A7                               Dm
Along with many other kinds of garbage