[Verse 1]
Am G
Winter solstice, the earth open wide
Am
with a heart crushed like footsteps in snow
G
(((fictitious persons disclaimers implied
Am
to all listening from rooftops below)))
G
it had rained and the air was like perfume outside
C G6 Em
as the sky changed
[Verse 2]
Am G
we began when the ground was still dry
Am
planting vineyards where vineyards don’t grow
G
shaping cypress with pitch on both sides
Am
for the nights when our trumpets won’t blow
G
that regret still there circling like vultures inside
C G6 Em
as your face changed?
[pre-chorus]
G
They don’t stay inside.
(there but for Thy grace go I...)
[Chorus 1]
C G6 Am
through the eyes of machines we viewed immaculate scenes
Em
that had already passed me by
C G6 Am
all the stars on the ground, Noah’s ark in the clouds
Em
set sail in the flood of my mind,
C G6 Am
the other animals drowned in blasphemous towns
Em
and asked as they passed me by
C G6 Am Em
“was to do as I please a European disease?”
[Verse 3]
Am G
Winter solstice, the earth had closed down
Am
So with breastplates of righteousness low
G
Searched for streams in the caves underground
Am
Where the Baptists and bootleggers go
G
And you smile but your vampire complexion still shows
C G6 Em
And your past shows
[pre-chorus]
G
It’s really all that shows
(so often unrecognizably so)
[Chorus 2]
C G6 Am
Through the eyes of machines immaculate scenes
Em
That had already passed me by
C G6 Am
All the stars on the ground, Noah’s ark in the clouds
Em
But the thought in the back of my mind:
C G6 Am
“does my misery feed a metaphysical need
Em
That’s long since passed me by
C G6
Neither reasoning why
Am Em G
Nor offering reply?”
[Bridge]
Em G6
Em G6
(Neither reasoning why
Em G6 Em
Nor offering reply)
[Outro]
C G6
Dear my newlywed wife
Am
You’re not the love of my life
Em
It had already passed me by---
C G6
Finally grasping the line
Am
Casting pearls before swine?