[Big Picture]
G
The picture is far too big to look at kid. Your eyes won't open wide enough
and you are constantly surrounded by that swirling stream of what is and what was.
C G
Well, we've all made our predictions but the truth still isn't out.
D G
So if you want to see the future, go stare into a cloud.
G
And keep trying to find your way out of that maze of memories.
It all sort of looks familiar, but then you get up close and it's different. clearly.
C G
Each time you turn a corner, you are right back to where you were
D G
and your only hope is that forgetting might make a door appear.
G
Is it your fear of being buried that makes you so afraid to speak?
An avalanche of opinions like the one that feel that I am now underneath
C G
It was my voice that moved the first rock and I would do it all again.
D G
So, I mean, it's cool if you keep quiet, but I like singing.
D
So I'll be holding my note and stomping and strumming and feeling so very
G
lucky.
D
There is nothing I know except that this lifetime is just one moment
G
and wishing will just leave me empty.
G
So you can try and live in darkness but you will never shake the light. It will greet
you every morning
and make you more aware with its absence at night,
C G
when you are wrapped up in your blanket baby, that comfortable cocoon.
D G
But I have seen the day of your awakening boy and it's coming soon.
G
So go ahead and loose yourself in liquor and you can praise the clouded mind
but it isn't what you are thinking it's the course of history, your position in line.
C G
You are just a piece of the puzzle so I think you had better find your place.
D G
And don't go blaming your knowledge on some fruit you ate.
Because there has been a great deal of discussion, yes, about the properties of man.
Animal or angel? You were carved from bone, but your heart it's just sand.
C G
And the wind is going to scatter it and cover everything with love.
D G
So if it makes you happy, keep kneeling Mama, but I am standing up.
G
Because this veil, it has been lifted yes. My eyes are wet with clarity.
I have been a witness of such wonders. Oh, I have searched for them all across this country
C G
but I think I'll be returning now to the town where I was born.
D G
And I understand you must keep moving friend, but I am heading home.
D
I'm gonna follow the road and let the scenery sweeping by easily enter my
G
body.
D
I'll send you all this message in code, under ground, over mountains,
G G G
through forests, deserts and cities.
C C C
All across the electric wire, it's a baited line. The hook is in deep boys,
C
there is no more time. So you can struggle in the water and be too stubborn to die,
C C D D D-cut off
or you could just let go and be lifted to the sky.
[Method Acting]
Em B7
There's no beginning to the story, a bookshelf sinks into the sand
C G Fm7 (200230)
And a language learned and forgot, in turn, is studied once again
Em B7
It's a shocking bit of footage viewed from a shitty TV screen
C G Fm7
You can squint out into snowy static to make out the meaning
Em B7
And keep on stretching the antenna hoping that it will come clear
C G Fm7
We need some reception, a higher message, just tell us what to fear
Am D G D C
'Cause I don't know what tomorrow brings
Am D G D C
It's alive with such possibilities
Am D G D C
All I know is I feel better when I sing
D
Burdens are lifted from me
Em B7 C G
That's my voice rising
Em B7 C G Em B7 C G
Em B7
So, Michael, please keep the tape rolling, boys keep strumming those guitars
C G Fm7
We need a record of our failures, yes, we must document our love
Em B7
I've sat too long in my silence, I've grown too old in my pain
C G Fm7
To shed this skin, be born again, it starts with an ending
Am D G D C
So thank you, friends, for the time we shared
An D G D C
My love stays with you like sunlight and air
An D G D C
And though I truly wish I could keep hanging around here
D
My joy is covering me
Em B7 C G
Soon, I will disappear
Em B7 C G
C
It's not a movie
Em
No private screening
Am
This method acting
D
Well, I call that living
C
It's like a fountain
Em
A door has opened
Am
We have a problem
D
With no solution
C B7
But to love and to be loved
Am D G D C
So I've made peace with the falling leaves
Am D G D C
I see their same fate in my own body
Am D G D C
But I won't be frightened when I'm awoken from this dream
D
And returned to that which
Em B7 C G
Gave birth to me
Em B7 C G
Gave birth to me
Gave birth to me
Gave birth to me
And the story goes
And the story goes
And it goes on and on and on and on
It's going on and on and on and on
[Make War]
E
Our love is dead but without limits
A
like the surface of the moon
E B7
and the land between you and the mountains
E A
It is not these hiding places that have kept us innocent
E B7 E
but the way you taught me to just let it all go by
A
Please return, return
E
to the person that you were
C#m B
And I will do the same
A
'cause it's too hard to belong
E
to somenone who is gone
F#m
my compass spins
A E
the wilderness remains
[False Advertising]
D D2 G F#
On a string I was held. The way that I move, can you tell?
Em A7 D D D2
My actions are orchestrated from above. So I swing and I sway.
G F# Em A7 D
Wave my hand. Kick my leg. And it is always right with the music.
"Until all that swinging starts to make you sick"
D D2 G F# Em A D
For a song I was bought. Now I lie when I talk with a careful eye on the cue card.
D D2 G F#
Onto a stage, I was pushed with my sorrow well rehearsed.
Em A7 D
So give me all your pity and your money. Now.
"We used to think that sound was something pure"
Em A F# Bm G A
If I could act like this was my real life and not some cage where I've been
Bm Em A F# Bm G A
placed, then, I could tell you the truth like I used to and not be afraid of
Bm G A D
sounding fake.Now all that anyone is listening for are the mistakes.
D D2 G F# Em A7
In a house, by myself, I hear the ice start to melt and watch rooftops weep
D
for the sunlight.
D D2 G F#
And I know what must change. Fuck my face. Fuck my name.
Em A7 D D D2
They are brief and false advertisements for a soul I don't have.
G F# Em A7 D
Something true I have lacked and spent my whole life trying to make up for.
D D2 G F# Em A7
But I found in a song and in the people I love. They will lift me up out of
D
darkness.
D D2 G F#
Now my door stands open. I am inviting everyone in.
Em A7 D D
We will laugh we're gonna drink until the morning comes. That is what we are going to do.
come on come on
You Will You Will? You? Will?:
E Esus E
E A E
You say that I treat you like a book on a shelf. I don't take you out that
B7 A A A2 (002100) E Esus E
often because I know that I completed you and that is why you are here.
A A2 E Esus E B7 A E Esus E
That is the reason why you stay here. How awful you must feel.
E A
You said you would be my dream. I could have you every night and if, by
E B7 A
morning, I had forgotten you, well, no big deal, it would be all right
A A2 E Esus E A A2 E Esus E
because you are the reoccurring kind. You are the reoccurring kind. You
B7 A E E
never leave my mind. are you the love of my lifetime? Because there have
A
been times I have had my doubts.
E B7 A
We were just kids when I first kissed you in the attic of my parents house,
A A2 E A E B7
and I wish we were there now. It took so long to figure out what this book
A E Esus E
has been about.
E A E
Now I write when I'm away letters that you never read. You said go to
explore those other women,
B7 A A A2 E Esus E
the geography of their bodies but there is just one map you'll need. You are
A
A boomerang.
E Esus E B7 A E
You see. You will return to me.
E Esus E A B7 E
You will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will
E Esus E A B7 E
You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will.
F# E
'Cause if you don't, then this book's all lies
F# E
If you don't, then my plans would all be ruined
F# B7
If you don't, I'll start drinking like the way I drank before
F# A E
Well then I just wont have a future anymore
[Lover I Dont Have to Love]
(Intro/verse)
e|-------0-------------------------0--------------------|
B|----1-----1---0--1--3--1------1-----1--------1--0-----|
G|-2----------0--------------2----------0---2-----------|
D|----------------------------------------3----------x2-|
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Am A? (002110)
I picked you out
F E
Of a crowd to talk to you
Am A?
Said I liked your shoes
F E
You said thanks can I follow you?
Am A?
So it's up the stairs
F E
And out of view No prying eyes
Am A?
I poured some wine
F E
I asked your name you asked the time
Am A?
Now it's two o'clock,
F E
the club is closed we're up the block
Am A?
Your hands on me
F E
Pressing hard against your jeans
Am A?
Your tongue in my mouth
F E
Trying to keep the words from coming out
Am A?
You didn't care to know
F E
Who else may have been you before
Am A?
I want a lover I don't have to love
F E
I want a girl who's to sad to give a fuck
Am A?
Where's the kid with the chemicals?
F E
I thought he said to meet me here but I'm not sure
Am A?
I got the money if you got the time
F E
You said it feels good I said I'll give it a try
Then my mind went dark
We both forgot where your car was parked
Let's just take the train
I'll meet up with the band in the morning
Am A? F E
Bad actors with bad habits
Am A?
Some sad singers
F E
They just play tragic
Am A?
And the phone's ringing
F E
And the van's leaving
Am A?
Let's just keep touching
F F E
Let's just keep keep singing
Am A?
I want a lover I don't have to love
F E
I want a boy who's so drunk he doesn't talk
Am A?
Where's the kid with the chemicals
F E
I got a hunger and I can't seem to get full
Am A>
I need some meaning I can memorize
F F E E
The kind I have always seems to slip my mind
But you but you
C C?(020010) Am G F
You write such pretty words
C C?(020010) Am G F
But life's no story book
C C?(020010) Am G F
Love is an excuse to get hurt
E
And to hurt
E
"Do you like to hurt?"
"I do! I do!"
Am A? F E
"Then hurt me."
[Bowl of Oranges]
C
The rain it started tappin'
G
On the window near my bed
F
There was a loophole in my dreamin'
G
So I got out of it
Am F
And to my surprise my eyes were wide and already open
D
Just my nightstand and my dresser
G
Where those nightmares had just been
C
So I dressed myself and left then
G
Out into the gray streets
F
But everything seemed different
G
And completely new to me
Am F
The sky the trees, houses, buildings, even my own body
D
And each person I encountered
G
I couldn't wait to meet
C
And I came upon a doctor
G
Who appeared in quite poor health
F G
I said there's nothing I can do for you that you can't do for yourself
Am F D
He said oh yes you can, just hold my hand, so I sat with him awhile
G
Then I asked him how he felt
F F? (002010) Am
He said I think I'm cured
F F? Am
No, in fact, I'm sure of it
F F? Am
Thank you, stranger
G
For your therapeutic smile
C
So that's how I learned the lesson
G
That everyone's alone
F
And your eyes must do some raining
G
If you're ever gonna grow
Am
And when crying don't help
You can't compose yourself
F
It's best to compose a poem
D
An honest verse of longing
G
Or a simple song of hope
C
That's why I'm singing baby don't worry
G
'Cause now I got your back
F
And every time you feel like crying
G
I'm gonna try and make you laugh
Am
And if I can't
If it just hurts too bad
F
Then we'll wait for it to pass
D G
And I will keep you company for those days so long and black
C
And we'll keep working on the problem
G
We know we'll never solve
F
Our love's un-even remainders
G
Our lives are fractions of a whole
Am
But if the world could remain within a frame
F
Like a painting on a wall
D
Then I think we'd see the beauty then
G
We'd stand staring in awe
F F? Am
At our still lives posed
F F? Am
Like a bowl of oranges
F F? Am
Like a story told
G
By the fault-lines in the soil
[Don't Know When But Days Gonna Come]
[Verse 1]
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E|---------------------------------------|
[Verse 2]
e|--------------0----------------------------|
B|----------3-----3---3---------3-------3----|
G|------------0-----0-------------0-------0--|
D|--3-2-----------------3-2------------------|
A|------3-------------------2-------1--------|
E|-------------------------------------------|
[Orchestra Part 1]
e|------------------------------------------------|
B|--------15-14----17-----------------------------|
G|--12-14-------14----17-14-17-12-14-12-14-12-14--|
D|------------------------------------------------|
A|------------------------------------------------|
E|------------------------------------------------|
[Orchestra Part 2]
e|-----------|
B|-----------|
G|--10-12-7--|
D|-----------| (x4)
A|-----------|
E|-----------|
[Nothing gets crossed out]
capo 3 fret
G Am
The future has got me worried, such awful thoughts.
D
My head is a carousèl of pictures.
G GF# G
The spinning never stops.
G Am F
I just want someone to walk in front and I'll follow the
G
leader
Continue until chorus
Am D G G/F# Em7
I know I should be brave but I'm just too afraid
D
Of all this change
G Bm
So when i'm lost in a crowd, i hope that you'll pick me out.
Am
Oh, How I long to be found.
D
The grass grew high. I lay down.
G Bm
Now, I wait for a hand to lift me up, help me stand.
Am D
I have been laying so low. don't want to lay here no more
[Waste of Paint"]
C F Fmaj (003200) F
C F Fmaj (003200) F C F Fmaj (003200) F
I have a friend, he is made mostly of paint.
C F Fmaj (003200) F C F Fmaj (003200) F
He wakes up, drives to work, and then straight back home again.
C F Fmaj (003200) F C F Fmaj (003200) F
He once cut one of my nightmares out of paper.
C F Fmaj (003200) F C F Fmaj (003200) F
I thought it was beautiful, I put it on a record cover.
G C F Fmaj (003200) F
And I tried to tell him he had a sense of color and composition so magnificent.
F G F G F G F G
And he said "Thank you, please but your flattery is truly not becoming me.
F G F G F G F
Your eyes are poor. You are blind. You see, no beauty could have come from
G
me.
C F Fmaj (003200) F C F Fmaj (003200) F
I am a waste of breath, of space, of time."
etc....
[From A Balance Beam]
D A
There is a man holding a megaphone, so he must have been the voice of God.
D7 G
The bystanders claimed they saw angels flying up and down the block.
Gm(300230)
Well, they must have been attached to wires. I saw one laying in
Bm A
the lawn with a broken arm,
A D A
so I called 911. So that is one less founded opinion. One more cause for a dispute.
D7 G
So the street filled, like a basin, up with cameras and their crews
Gm Bm A
and they washed away the rumors leaving just the concrete truth. It was a spectacle.
A D A
No, I mean a miracle. So then I fell like that girl from a balance beam.
D7 G Gm
A gymnasium of eyes were all holding on to me. I lifted one foot to cross the other
Bm A A
and I felt myself slipping. It was a small mistake. Sometimes that is all it takes.
Bm G A
Now I'm staring at my wrist, hoping that the timing is right. When the
D
planes will align.
G Gm
There will be no planets to align. Just the carcass of the sun
Gm
and those little painted marbles spinning endless through an endless black sky.
D D D D
D A
It was in a foreign hotel's bathtub I baptized myself in change.
D7 G
And one by one I drowned all of the people I had been.
Gm Bm A
I emerged to find the parallels were fewer. I was cleansed. I looked in the mirror
A D
and someone new was there. Still, I was as helpless as a chess piece
A D7
when I was lifted up by someone's hand and delivered from the corner my
G
enemies had got me in.
Gm Bm A
But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside that holding cell
A
that is myself.
D A D7
So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key as it turns in the lock
G
and the guard will say to me, "Oh my patient prisoner you have waited for
Bm
this day
A A
and finally you are free! You are free! You are freezing."
Bm G A
Now I'm staring at the sun, waiting for it to explode. Because a day is
D
gonna come,
G Gm
don't know when but it will come and then we will finally know the way out of here.
Gm
And I will throw away this wrinkled map and my chart of stars and compass, cracked.
And I'll climb out that tree all wet with sap to avoid the hungry beasts below.
I'll cut out my love's tongue and sing of a graveyard gray and a garden green and
then we won't have to worry no more. No we won't ever worry again abouthow this song
or story ends about how this song and story will end.
D D D
[Laura Laurent]
G Am D G
Laura are you still livin' there on your estate of sorrows?
G Am D G
You used to leave it occasionally but now you don't even bother
G Am D G
to ride the commuter train west to Chicago
G Am D G
to stroll through the greenery in the park past the statues
Bm Em C D
how her eyes seemed to follow you, like a hated addiction
Bm Em C
their beauty carved out of absolutes you could never claim
D
or even envision
G Am D G
Laura you were the saddest song in the shape of a woman
G Am D G
yeah I thought you were beautiful but I wept with your movements
G Am D G
but I hope that you're laughing now from that place on the carpet
G Am D G
where we shared a sleeping bag in your sister's apartment
G Am D G
oh how she would worry so, you know I was just a stranger
G Am G
but she asked me to care for you, yes she did
D
and I went and betrayed her
Bm Em C D
But do you know we're in high demand, Laura, us, people who suffer?
Bm Em C D
because we don't take to arguing and we're quick to surrender.
G Am D G
Well I think I would call tonight if I still had your number
G Am D G
your thoughts have always laid close to mine, and we're both skipping supper.
G Am D G
But you should never be embarrassed by your trouble with living
G Am
'Cause it's the ones with the sorest throats, Laura,
D G
who have done the most singing
LAlalalalalalLalalALalAlala
[Lets Not Shit Ourselves] (To love and too be loved)
C E Am F C E Am F G C E Am F C G C
C E Am
The animals laugh from the dark of the wilderness. A baby cried hard in an
F G
apartment complex,
C E Am
as I pass a car buried under the influence. The city is driving me out of my
F
mind.
C E
I have seen a child is caught in the sad trap of gravity.
Am F G C
He falls from the lowest branch of the apple tree and lands in the grass and
E
weeps for his dignity.
Am F C G C
Next time he will not aim so high. Yeah, next time, neither will I.