[Verse 1]
Bm
The sellers of flowers
G
Buy up old roses
F
They pull off dead petals
Am
Like old heads of lettuce
Em
And sell ’em as new ones
G
For cheaper and fairer
D
But they die by the morning
F
So who is the winner?
[Chorus]
Bb
Not the roses
Dm
Not the buyers
A
Not the sellers
Maybe winter
[Verse 2]
Bm
Cause winter is coming
G
Soon after summer
F
It runs faster, faster
Am
Chasing off Autumn
Em G
We go from a warm sun to only a white sun
D F
We go from a large sun to only a small one
[Verse 3]
Bm G
When I was a small girl I walked through the market
F Am
Holding my dad’s hand, mitten in gloved hand
Em G
At night there were roses lit up in glass boxes
D F
The heat-lamps would keep them from freezing in winter
[Verse 4]
Bb Dm
We never bought them but somebody must have
A A7
Maybe they made it or maybe they froze up
Bb
Before any person had put them in water
A
And hoped that they’d still be alive by the morning
[Chorus]
Bb
Who’s the winner?
Dm
Not the roses
A
Not the buyers
Not the sellers
Bb
Not the tellers
Of these stories
A
Not the fathers
Not their children
Bb
Not those waking
A#(b5)
On a dark night
A
Through a memory
They’re forgetting
Eb
Who’s the winner? Who’s the winner?
A
Maybe winter, maybe winter
[Verse 5]
Bm D F#m
Somebody steps on a light through a tunnel
Bm D F#m
They’re holding a piece of their mind in the rubble
Faug F#m A D A D
Hold on I won’t let go
Bm A G
I want to know
[Instrumentation]
[Verse 6]
Bm
But no one lives long enough
G
To see the outcome
F
To know any answers
Am
To know what the point is
Em
To know if the winter
G
Ever came closer
D
Than on that night
F
When I walked with my father
[Verse 7]
Bb
A small piece of ice
Dm
Lodged in my mind
A
Lodged in my thoughts, lodged in my eyes
Gm
Cold all around, cold all around
A
Warm from inside, warm from inside
[Chorus]
Bb
Who’s the winner?
Dm
Not the roses
A
Not the buyers
Not the sellers
Bb
Not the tellers
Of these stories
A
Not the fathers
Not their children
Bb
Who’s the winner?
Dm
Not the roses
A
Not the buyers
Not the sellers
Bb
Not the tellers
Of these stories
A
Not the fathers
Not their children
[Outro]
Bb
Not those waking
A#(b5)
On a dark night
A
Through a memory
They’re forgetting
Eb
Who’s the winner? Who’s the winner?
A
Maybe winter, maybe winter
Eb
Who’s the winner? Who’s the winner?
A
Maybe winter, maybe winter
Eb A Gm Edim Dm
Who’s the winner? Who’s the winner?