Intro:
e|--------------------------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------------------------------|
D|----9~-----11--8~----4-5~------2-------4-5~----2--------------|
A|----------------------------------4~--------------4~----------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------2-3~-|
Verses:
Bm G
Barren rocks and sand, our wooden sculpture hands,
Bm D (Em) G
held like a timber hitch, held candles to the sun
Bm G
Both faint and fading fast, we walked on, windward
Bm D (Em) G
kept time with a pocketmouse, mouths kept mostly shut
Bm G
Thought broke the silence like a bone
Bm
half-moaned: "you've worn me like an albatross,
D (Em) G
I've only slowed you down.
Bm G
You could've long traded in your braided crown
Bm D (Em) G
by now you could've found that Anabaptist girl you always used to go on about
Bm G
As we rode in circles on our bicycles;
Bm D (Em) G
we walked on balance beams as the audience cheered for us
Bm G
We burned like fevers under carriage hats
Bm
hid behind Venetian masks
D (Em) G
In our human costumes
Bm G
We stood like statues once in shepherd's check
Bm
we'll both be decked in herringbone,
D (Em) G
wrapped border drab around already broken ironstone"
Bm
"But I've seen these cliffs before,
G Bm
St. Agnes brought her palm branch to the hospital
D (Em) G
looked upward lest the charm had fled
from my brother's breathing bed
Bm G
And when he died I shut his dogtooth violet eyes:
Bm
He looked just like me
D (Em) G
climb on down and see
Bm G
they laid him on the rocks below
Bm
there'll be enough to fill your cup for days
D (Em) G
I'll stay up here and rest.
Bm G
We'll fly in straight lines as from carronades
Bm D (Em) G
we'll crash like tidal waves, decimate the islands
Bm G
As our hollowed lumber falls like water, ends where I start
Bm D (Em) G
In that tattered rag shop back in Asbury Park
Bm F#m
Em Bm
Look how soon my hands won't move
but if you'll improve, we'll all improve
Sixty feet and my feet won't move
but if you'll improve, we'll all improve
Forty feet, my legs won't move
but as you improve, we all improve
Fill our den with acorn mast,
I'll wake before the salmon pass
Ten foot more and nothing moves"