Skinny Puppy version lyrics:

Center bullet

2:43:
3:30:
4:37:
4:50: I don't care
5:33: I close my eyes and I'm there ???
5:45: ???
6:32:???
7:00: Close my eyes and I'm there
7:07:???
8:43: therapy
9:40: the hell is that/how's that

'Transcribed' by Corey. Aside from the repeated title line and "close my eyes and I'm there" most of the original (i.e. non-sampled) voice in this track is so buried that it is inaudible. Above are the approximate times when some buried speaking can be distinguished. If anyone has any further thoughts, let me know.

The Tear Garden version lyrics:

Dead shot through the temple
In the temple heard the preacher screech
I bored you full of holes Lucretia
Saw you crease up in a ball
As if you swallowed your own poison
Followed as you crawled up to the altar

I watched the tabernacle choir
Bawling in a bath of sacramental wine
You laced it but it tastes just fine to me

Yes '89's a good year
Let's hear it now for bittersweet
Let's hear it now for good old '89
Let's hear it now for good old '89

We took our seats
We watched them stringing up a chicken
Kept on kicking
As they kicked away the chair
They fed it strychnine
We kept on staring sickened sordid
As you pulled another bullet
From my belt and fired
Count to nine
Count to nine
Count to nine

I caught it in my teeth
I licked it clean
I chewed it
I chewed it struck a match
I flew a dozen stories to my stool behind a widow
Sure I'm small but big enough
But I'm big enough to send a bullet through your head
A bullet through the center of your head
I'll send a bullet through the center of your head

Center bullet
Rent a bullet

A bullet through the center of your head
A bullet through the center of your head
Center bullet
Rent a bullet

Transcribed by Alan Ezust, Jon Drukman, and other members of the cloud-zero mailing list (Used with permission) with additions by Corey

Appeared On:

• Bites in original version as "The Centre Bullet" (9:42)
• The Tear Garden - The Tear Garden EP in version with lyrics by Edward Ka-Spel as "Center Bullet"
  • The Tear Garden - Tired Eyes Slowly Burning CD in EP version compiled as "Center Bullet"

Total Versions: 2 (1 by Skinny Puppy, 1 by The Tear Garden)

Live Performances: 
April 14, 1988 in Leiden, Holland
May 1, 1988 at Foyer St. Arbogast in Strassborg France

Notes: 

• Originally appeared as a Puppy track with a few vocals by cEvin himself on an early Bites cassette. This is the version which is on the Bites CD. The song was later re-released, with vocals added by Edward Ka-Spel, by their collaborative project The Tear Garden. This version was first released on The Tear Garden's self-titled EP which is available in its entirety on the CD edition of Tired Eyes Slowly Burning.
  
• The live performances listed above occurred during Skinny Puppy's Head Trauma tour, for which Edward Ka-Spel was the opening act. At the end of Ka-Spel's set cEvin joined him on guitar and keyboards for a performance of this song, making these nights the only live performance of Tear Garden material by members of both Skinny Puppy and the Legendary Pink Dots.

This page last updated on Saturday, October 18, 2003
by Corey Goldberg