[Intro]
C F G C
[Verse 1]
C F G C
Monday morning sidewalk man, sits back to watch the show
C F G C
The rebar and the wet cement, transistor radio
Am G C F
He takes a pull from a paper bag, across the street on an old park bench
C Em7 Am7 F C
Oh, the big machines and rolled blueprints, stir something in his soul
[Verse 2]
C F G C
A memory comes winding through the ruin of his mind
C F G C
The hardhats and the heavy boots, the nail gun’s ringing whine
Am G C F
A jungle with the same sharp sound, his brothers falling all around
C Em7 Am7 F C
Oh, they built them up, just to tear them down, and left him half alive
[Chorus]
F C F G
Someday I’m gonna laugh about it, looking down from heaven’s golden plain
C F
But for now I found some peace down by the water,
C G C
just to watch a building rise up in the rain
[Instrumental]
C F G C x2
[Verse 3]
C F G C
He waits each day till evening falls, the men all drive away
C F G C
The echo of their hammers linger, voices slowly fade
Am G C F
The lights along the path come on, the scaffolding a skeleton
C Em7 Am7 F C
All the things he dreamed and then forgot, the promises he made
[Chorus]
F C F G
Someday I’m gonna laugh about it, looking down from heaven’s golden plain
C F
But for now I found some peace down by the water,
C G Am
just to watch a building rise up in the rain
C G C
just to watch a building rise up in the rain
[Bridge]
F C F G
And the moon shines on the river like a dream, and he smokes a cigarette and falls asleep
C F
And the wind it wanders slow through empty rooms without their walls
C G C
And a silence settles over everything
[Instrumental]
C F G C x2
[Verse 4]
C F G C
And from the ground it rises up, a riverside hotel
C F G C
The sidewalk man, he comes to watch near every day until
Am G C F
The ribbon cut and the curtains hung, the reservations filled and gone
C Em7 Am7 F C
And the owner tells him move along, go linger somewhere else
[Chorus]
F C F G
Someday I’m gonna laugh about it, looking down from heaven’s golden plain
C F
But for now I found some peace down by the water,
C G Am
just to watch a building rise up in the rain
C G C
just to watch a building rise up in the rain