Intro
Am G C F
Am G C
1,2, now
Part 1
Am G
Those three-plus years, I was so proud of
C F
Then I threw them all away for two Styrofoam cups
Am G
The irony, everyone will think that "He lied to me"
C
Made my sobriety so public, there's no fucking privacy
Am G
If I don't talk about it then I carry a date
C F
A "08/10/08" that now has been changed
Am G
And everyone that put me in some box as a saint
C
That I never was, just a false prophet that never came
Am G
And will they think that everything that I've written has all been fake?
C F
Or will I just take my slip to the grave?
Am G
What the fuck are my parents gonna say?
C
The success story that got his life together and changed
Am G
And you know, what pain looks like
C F
When you tell your dad you relapsed and look at him directly into his face
Am G
Deceit on your shoulders, deceivingly heavy weight
C
Haven't seen tears like this on my girl in a while
Am G
The trust that I once built has been betrayed
C F
But I'd rather live telling the truth and be judged for my mistakes
Am G
Than falsely held up, given props, loved and praised
C
I guess, I gotta get this on the page
Am G
Feeling sick and helpless, lost the compass where self is
C F
I know what I've gotta do, and I can't help it
Am G
One day at a time is what they tell us
C
Now I've gotta find a way to tell them
Am G C F
God help 'em, yeah
Am G
One day at a time is what they tell us
C
Now I've gotta find a way to tell them
Am G
We fall, so hard,
C F Am G C
now we gotta get back what we lost, lost
Am G
I thought you’d gone,
C F Am G C
but you were with me all along, along
Part 2
Am G
And every kid that came up to me
C F
And said I was the music they listened to when they first got clean
Am G
Now look at me, a couple days sober, I'm fighting demons
C
Back of that meeting on the East Side, shaking, tweaking
Am G
Hope that they don't see it, hope that no one is looking
C F
That no one recognizes that failure under that hoodie
Am G
Just posted in the back with my hands crossed, shooken
C
If they call on me I'm passin', if they talk to me I'm booking
Am G
Out that door, but before, I can make it
C
Somebody stops me and says "Are you Macklemore?
F Am G
Maybe this isn't the place or time, I just wanted to say that
C
If it wasn't for 'Otherside,' I wouldn't have made it"
Am G
I just looked down at the ground and say, "Thank you"
C F
She tells me she has nine months, and that she's so grateful
Am G
Tears in her eyes, looking like she's gonna cry, fuck
C
I barely got forty-eight hours, treated like I'm some wise monk
Am G
I want to tell her I relapsed, but I can't
C F
I just shake her hand and tell her, "Congrats"
Am G
Get back to my car, and I think I'm tripping, yeah
C
Cause God wrote "Otherside," that pen was in my hand
Am G
I'm just a flawed man, man, I fucked up
C F
Like so many others, I just never thought I would
Am G
I never thought I would, didn't pick up the book
C
Doin' it by myself didn't turn out that good
Bridge
Am G
If I can be an example of getting sober
C F
Then I can be an example of starting over
Am G
If I can be an example of getting sober
C
Then I can be an example of starting over
Am G
We fall, so hard,
C F Am G C
now we gotta get back what we lost, lost
Am G
I thought you’d gone,
C F Am G C
but you were with me all along, along
Outro
Am G C F
Am G C