Skip to content
FreeGuitarTabs

American Water

Silver Jews
Version1
90

Chords in this song

Strum
D-DU-UDU
In  1984  I was hospitalized  for approaching perfection.
Slowly  screwing my way  across Europe,  they had to make a correction.
Broken  and smokin'  where the infrared deer  plunge in the digital snake.
I  tell you, they make it so you can't  shake hands  when they make your hands shake.
I  know you like to  line dance,
Everythings  so democratic and cool,
But  baby there's no  guidance when random  rules.
I  know that a lot  of what I say has been lifted  off of men's room walls.
Maybe  I've crossed  the wrong rivers and walked  down all the wrong halls.
But  nothing can change  the fact that we used  to share a bed
and  that's why it scared  me so when you turned  to me and said:
"Yeah,  you look like  someone
Yeah  you look like someone  who up and left me low.
Boy,  you look like  somene I used  to know."
I  asked the painter  why the roads  are colored black.
He  said, "Steve, it's because  people leave
 and no highway  will bring them back."
So  if you don't want  me, I promise  not to linger,
But  before I go I gotta  ask you dear about the tan  line on your ring finger.
No  one should have two  lives,
now  you know my middle  names are wrong and right.
Honey  we've got two lives  to give  tonight.
 SMITH & JONES FOREVER
Are  you honest  when no one's looking?
 Can you  summon honey from a telephone?
They  sat there with their hooks  in the water
and  their moustaches caked with airplane  food.
 O come  let us adore them
 California  overboard
 when the sun  sets on the ghetto all the broken stuff  gets cold.
 Smith and Jones  forever!
 Smith and Jones  forever!
 Smith and Jones forever  together  forever  and ever.
 Together, forever  and ever
Build  a stage  for Autumn's bitch.
They  walk the alleys in duct  tape shoes.
They  see the things they need through the windows  of a hatchback
The  alleys are the footnotes of the avenues.
 o come  let us adore them
 California  overboard
holding  up their trousers with extension  cords.
 Smith and Jones  forever!
 Smith and Jones  forever!
 Smith and Jones forever  together  forever  and ever.
 Together, forever  and ever
I've  got two tickets to a midnight  execution.
We'll  hitchhike our way from Odessa  to Houston
and  when they turn on the chair
 something's added to the air
 when they turn on the chair
 something's added to the air forever
 Smith and Jones  forever!
 Smith and Jones forever  together  forever  and ever.
 Together, forever  and ever.
 NIGHT SOCIETY
 I'm not going to get too deep with this one, it's just riffs and whatnot over this progression:
 And you hold the last C. If somebody wants to tab it, go ahead, but I can't really
 imagine too many people being pissed that they miss out on playing this one.
 FEDERAL DUST
 (slide up to ,  then )
|-------------|-------------|
|-------------|--------2----|
|--------2-4--|----------4--|
 |--0-2h4------|--0-2h4------| repeat as necessary
They  don't walk,  and they don't talk  in Malibu.
They  don't vote, they  don't even smoke
 I know you're blue...
 I know you're blue...
 I know you're blue.
 BASS RIFF
They  don't cream  and they don't dream  in Kansas City.
They  don't crack,  they don't,  they never act
 I know you're ready...
 I know you're ready...
 I know you're ready.
 SOLO OVER VERSE CHORDS
They  don't cry,  and they don't die  in South Dakota.
They  don't match  and they  don't hatch  in South Dakota.
 In South Dakota
 Here comes the coda:
Not  much
water  coming over  the hill...
 Not much
 Not much
 Not much.
 With the verses in this song whenever the Bbm is played there tends to be a
 hammering on between a Bbmsus2 and the Bbm. If you know what that means, good. If
 you don't, well, it's not really that important.
 PEOPLE
 The verse Emaj7 in this song is played as this: xxx444
Moments can  be monuments to you
 If your life is interesting and true.
 It's just the same for a man or a girl,
 The meaning of the world lies outside thw world.
 People love people and they understand
 if you wanna renovate your background mind
 (a federal woman needs a municipal man)
 people gotta synchronize to animal time.
You  can't change  the feeling
 but you can change  your feelings about  the feeling in a second  or two...
 Ahhh
 (hold )
 People always come around.
I'm  studying the ceiling  on a little afternoon
and when I paint my dining room
B7
Ahhhh
 people gonna come around.
I  love to  see a rainbow from a garden hose
 lit up like the blood of a centerfold
 I love the city and the city rain,
 suburban kids with biblical names.
 People ask people to watch their scotch.
 People send people up to the moon.
 When they return, well there isn't much.
 People be careful not to crest too soon.
The  drums march along  at the clip of an I.V. drip
 like sparks  from a muffler dragged down  the strip.
 Ahhh
 I really hope you'll come around.
It's  sunny and 75.  It feels  so good to be  alive.
come  on baby don't stay  inside.
 Everybody's coming out  tonight.
 And repeat the verse chords.
 BLUE ARRANGEMENTS
 UNUSUAL CHORDS:
I  see you gracefully swimming  with the country club women
in  the Greenwood southside society pool.
I  love your amethyst eyes and your protestant  thighs
 you're a shimmering  socialite  jewel.
From  the Carbon Dioxide  Riding Academy
to  the children's crusade  marching through the downtown.
Well  I think I'd die see, if you just said hi  to me.
 When something breaks  it makes a beautiful sound.
Sometimes  I feel like I'm watching the world
 and the world isn't watching me back.
 But when I see you, I know I'm in it too.
 The waves come in  and the waves go back.
The  kids in the corner all covered in dirt.
 Caught trespassing under the moon.
 My father came in from wherever he'd been
 and kicked my shit  all over the room.
 All over the room
 All over the room.
 The room  is dark and heavy with what  I want to say.
 I see murals  in the radio static and on your blue  blue jeans.
What  would you say if I asked you to run away?
 It's been done  so many times I hardly know  what it means.
 I took  these blue arrangements and threw  them in the sea
 when older  waves from older caves brought  them back to me.
 I took  these blue arrangements and stored  them on a shelf.
 With change  on the mantle and time in a candle,
 in the end a boy  raises himself.
 WE ARE REAL
 UNUSUAL CHORDS:
/:  2x0212
Up  the hill past 694,  at the stone  wall make a left,
 and I  will see you soon  my friend if these old  directions  still direct.
 Oh yeah
 If these old  directions  still direct.
Is  the problem that we can't  see or is  it that the problem is beautiful  to me?
The  birds of Virginia are flying  within you
 and like  background singers  they all  come in threes.
 And like  background singers  they all  come in threes.
Won't  soul music change
now  that our souls have turned strange.
Once  a day, twice  a day...
And  when on and off collide
we'll  set our souls  aside and walk  away.
We've  been raised on replicas of fake  and winding roads
 and day  after day up on this beautiful stage
 we've been playing  tambourine for minimum wage
 but we are real,
 We are real,
 I know we are real.
Repair  is the dream  of the broken thing.
 Like a message  broadcast on an overpass
all  my favorite singers  couldn't sing.
All  my favorite singers  couldn't sing.
My  ski vest has buttons  like convenience store mirrors
 and they help me see,
 that everything  in this room  right now
is  a part  of me.
is  a part  of me.
Won't  soul music change
now  that our souls have turned strange.
Once  a day, twice  a day...
And  when on and off collide
we'll  set our souls  aside and walk  away.
Realizing  is how it feels inside  when it happens to you.
 So I took  a shot of sugar like snow dumped into the blood
 and children  wander off into the ultra-economic
 but we are real,
 We are real
 I know we are real,  real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real...
 I know we are real.
 SEND IN THE CLOUDS
 Send in the clouds.  Bring down the rain.
 Shut all the blinds,  turn out the lights:
 I feel insane  when you get  in my bed.
 I am the trick  my mother played on the world
 Seventeen doctors  couldn't decide
 whether I  should be allowed  in the game.
Why  can't monsters get along  with other monsters?
 Soi disantra,  soi disantra,  soi disantra.
 I know a puppy  who walked form Kentucky.
 Made to East  Virginia by dawn.
 He had seventeen  ideas  in his head.
Windex  tears flow down the robot's face.  He never felt a mother's embrace.
 My momma named  me after a king.
 I'm gonna bury  my name  in you.
Why  can't monsters get along  with other monsters?
 Soi disantra,  soi disantra...
 they don't wanta.
 (, )
 Why can't monsters get along with other monsters?
Soi  disantra, soi disantra,  ohh
Soi  disantra, soi disantra, whoa!
 Repeat.
 LIKE LIKE THE THE THE DEATH
Like  like the  the the death
Air  crickets air crickets air  crickets air crickets air
 Mother and child with  magazine
 Into a story, into  a dream
 Why is there something instead  of nothing
 And how is the asking built into  the hunting?
Do  you believe  in MGM endings?
Everybody's  coming back  to Christmas for Texas
Folks  who've watched their mother kill  an animal know
 That their home  is surrounded by places to go
(and  the west has made  a deal with the sun).
My  life at home  very day:
 Drinking Coke  in a kitchen with a dog
 Who doesn't know his name.
Oh  right it could've  been anyone
Grass  rabbits grass rabbits grass  rabbits grass rabbits grass
 Nobody cares about  a dead  hooker
 Looking like one, standing  for money
 Life finds a limit at the edge  of our bodies
 A stranger begins wherever  I see  her.
Let's  live where the indoors  and outdoors meet
All  the kids in the commonwealth  are free.
Every  morning you forgive  me, every evening you relive  me
 And the pattern itself is what you give me
(the  morning has cut  a deal with the east).
Like  like the  the the death
Air  crickets air crickets air  crickets air crickets air
 BUCKINGHAM RABBIT
Back  then I had a Buckingham rabbit.
 I'd been lonely since she found Christ.
 Now is the time to depend on the law:
 the nights  of my professional life.
I  was living in a very  young city.
 Grand piano, great lakes, good-bye.
 If you ask me my name, it's high-low-jack in the game.
 I can track  a single bee to the hive.
 Every single game  was a blowout.
 And the Nascar blurred into porn.
 Scenic this, scenic that,
 don't fall for the traps
 Of the man  who was never born.
And  so the rent became whiskey,
and  then my life became risky:
And  so the rent became whiskey  (whiskeyyeyey),
shattered  dogs on the rocks.
At  the back of the bar  there's a couch
 where the lonely people go and lie.
 They talk to the honky tonk psychiatrist
 into the wee  hours of the night.
The  factories on muscle  relaxers.
 The pine perfume of hilltown floors.
 The lover, the thinker, the talker, the singer
 won't be lucid  for her anymore.
And  so the rent became whiskey,
and  then my life became risky:
And  so the rent became whiskey  (whiskeyyeyey),
shattered  dogs on the rocks.
 SOLO OVER CHORUS CHORDS
When  you know how I feel  I feel better
 When you're 15 you want to look poor.
 Do unto others, and run like a mother
 I don't want  to look poor anymore
Jesus  in a runaway shelter,
 said "The deaf have pictures of you."
 From the digital fountains to the analog mountains,
 let the mirrow  express the room.
 HONK IF YOU'RE LONELY
Radio's  on, feeling all right
Cruising  the strip on a Saturday night.
I  smile and I wave and I hide all my pain
 but the sign on my bumper gives  me away:
Honk  if you're lonely tonight
If  you need a friend to get  through the night
A  toot on your horn, a flash  of your brights
Honk  if you're lonely tonight.
 (verse chords)
 I know honky-tonk where we can go.
 A booth in the back with the lights way down low.
 The jukebox is playing a sad melody
 for heart-broken lovers like you and me.
 We'll laugh and we'll flirt and we'll dance every dance
 and before the night's over we'll take a chance.
 The morning will find us with a smile on our face
 and we'll be together in a lover's embrace.
Honk  if you're lonely tonight
If  you need a friend to get  through the night
A  toot on your horn, a flash  of your brights
Honk  if you're lonely tonight.
 (verse chords)
 I know it seems sad to be so damn blue
 but there's always the chance that you'll meet someone new.
 I know that somewhere waiting for me
 is a sad lonely lover with a bumper that reads:
Honk  if you're  lonely tonight
If  you need a friend to get  through the night
A  toot on your horn, a flash  of your brights
Honk  if you're lonely tonight.
 THE WILD KINDNESS
I  wrote a letter to a wildflower
on  a classic nitrogen afternoon.
Some  power that hardly looked  like power
said  I'm perfect in an empty room.
 Four dogs in the distance
 each stands for a kindness.
 Bluebirds lodged in an evergreen  altar...
 I'm gonna shine  out in the  wild silence
 and spurn the sin  of giving in.
Oil  paintings of x-rated  picnics.
Behind  the walls of medication I'm free.
Every  leaf in a compact  mirror
hits  a target that we can't see.
 Grass grows in the icebox.
 The year ends in the next room
 It is autumn and my camouflage  is dying
 instead of  time there will  be lateness
 instead of time  there will  be lateness
 instead of time  there will  be lateness
 and let forever  be delayed.
 SOLO OVER VERSE AND CHORUS CHORDS
I  dyed my hair in a motel  void
met  the coroner at Dreamgate Frontier
He  took may hand said I'll help  you boy
ff  you really want to disappear
 Four dogs in the distance
 each stands for a silence.
 Bluebirds lodged in an evergreen  altar...
 I'm gonna shine  out in the wild kindness
 I'm gonna shine  out in the wild kindness
 I'm gonna shine  out in the wild  kindness
 and hold the world  to its word.
 Aaaand finish on a Bm.

Source: Songsterr · Rights holder? Request removal.

Readable chord sheet for American Water by Silver Jews

[C]In 19[Em]84 I was [F]hospitalized for approaching perfection.      [C]
[C]Slowly screwing my [Em]way across Europe,[F] they had to make a correc[C]tion.
[C]Broken and [Em]smokin' where the infrared [F]deer plunge in the digital sn[C]ake.
[C]I tell you, they make it so you [Em]can't shake hands[F] when they make your hands shake. [C]

[Dm]I know you like to[Fmaj7] line dance,
[Dm]Everythings so democratic and [Fmaj7]cool,
[Dm]But baby there's [Fmaj7]no guidance when r[C]andom rules.

[C]I know that a [Em]lot of what I say has been l[F]ifted off of men's room w[C]alls.
[C]Maybe I've c[Em]rossed the wrong rivers and [F]walked down all the wrong halls.    [C]
[C]But nothing can [Em]change the fact that we [F]used to share a bed       [C]
[C]and that's why it [Em]scared me so when you [F]turned to me and said:     [C]

[Dm]"Yeah, you look like[Fmaj7] someone
[Dm]Yeah you look like [Fmaj7]someone who up and left me low.
[Dm]Boy, you look [Fmaj7]like somene I u[C]sed to know."

[C]I asked the [Em]painter why the [F]roads are colored black.    [C]
[C]He said, "Steve, it's [Em]because people leave
and no [F]highway will bring them [C]back."
[C]So if you don't [Em]want me, I [F]promise not to ling[C]er,
[C]But before I go I [Em]gotta ask you dear about the [F]tan line on your ring fi[C]nger.

[Dm]No one should have tw[Fmaj7]o lives,
[Dm]now you know my [Fmaj7]middle names are wrong and right.
[Dm]Honey we've got two [Fmaj7]lives to [C]give tonight.

SMITH & JONES FOREVER

[Am]Are you honest[F] when no one's looking?
Can yo[Am]u summon honey from a [F]telephone?
[Am]They sat there with their [F]hooks in the water
[Am]and their moustaches caked with [E]airplane food.

O [Am]come let us adore them
Cali[F]fornia overboard
when the [Am]sun sets on the ghetto all the broken stuff[F] gets cold.

Smith and [G]Jones[Am] forever!
Smith and [G]Jones[Am] forever!
Smith and [G]Jones [Am]forever t[F]ogether f[Am]orever and [F]ever.
To[Am]gether, [F]forever and [Am]ever

[Am]Build a stage[F] for Autumn's bitch.
[Am]They walk the alleys in [F]duct tape shoes.
[Am]They see the things they need through the [F]windows of a hatchback
[Am]The alleys are the footnotes of the a[E]venues.

o [Am]come let us adore them
Cali[F]fornia overboard
[Am]holding up their trousers with e[F]xtension cords.

Smith and [G]Jones[Am] forever!
Smith and [G]Jones[Am] forever!
Smith and [G]Jones [Am]forever t[F]ogether f[Am]orever and [F]ever.
To[Am]gether, [F]forever and [Am]ever

[Am]

[Am]I've got two tickets to a mi[F]dnight execution.
[Am]We'll hitchhike our way from [F]Odessa to Houston
[Am]and when they turn on the c[F]hair
something's added to the [Am]air
when they turn on the [F]chair
something's added to the [G]air [Am]forever

Smith and [G]Jones[Am] forever!
Smith and [G]Jones [Am]forever t[F]ogether f[Am]orever and [F]ever.
To[Am]gether, [F]forever and [Am]ever.

NIGHT SOCIETY

I'm not going to get too deep with this one, it's just riffs and whatnot over this progression:

[C] [D] [Em] [D] [C]

And you hold the last C. If somebody wants to tab it, go ahead, but I can't really
imagine too many people being pissed that they miss out on playing this one.

FEDERAL DUST

(slide up to [A], then [G])

[Bass]

|-------------|-------------|
|-------------|--------2----|
|--------2-4--|----------4--|
|--0-2h4------|--0-2h4------| repeat as necessary

[C#m]They don't [F#]walk[Bbm], and they don't [E]talk in Mali[C#]bu.
[F#]They don't [B]vote, [Ebm]they don't even [A]smoke
I know you're [E]blue...
I know you're [F#]blue...
I know you're [C#m]blue.

BASS RIFF

[C#m]They don't [F#]crea[Bbm]m and they don't [E]dream in Kansas [C#]City.
[F#]They don't [B]crack, they [Ebm]don't, they never [A]act
I know you're ready.[E]..
I know you're ready.[F#]..
I know you're [C#m]ready.

SOLO OVER VERSE CHORDS

[C#m]They don't [F#]cry[Bbm], and they don't [E]die in South Da[C#]kota.
[F#]They don't [B]match and [Ebm]they don't [A]hatch in South D[E]akota.
In South D[F#]akota
Here comes the [C#m]coda:

[C#m]Not m[A]uch
[E]water coming [F#]over the h[A]ill...
Not [F#]much
Not m[A]uch
Not [C#m]much.

With the verses in this song whenever the Bbm is played there tends to be a
hammering on between a Bbmsus2 and the Bbm. If you know what that means, good. If
you don't, well, it's not really that important.

PEOPLE

The verse Emaj7 in this song is played as this: xxx444

[Amaj7]Moments [Emaj7]can be monuments to you
If your life is interesting and true.
It's just the same for a man or a girl,
The meaning of the world lies outside thw world.

People love people and they understand
if you wanna renovate your background mind
(a federal woman needs a municipal man)
people gotta synchronize to animal time.

[E]You can't [B7]change the feeling
but you can [E]change your feelings [B7]about the feeling in a [E]second or two...
Ahhh[B7]
(hold [B7])           [E]
People always come around.

[E]I'm studying the [B7]ceiling on a little a[E]fternoon
and [B7]when I paint my [E]dining room
     [B7]
Ahhhh
people gonna come a[E]round.

[Amaj7]I love t[Emaj7]o see a rainbow from a garden hose
lit up like the blood of a centerfold
I love the city and the city rain,
suburban kids with biblical names.

People ask people to watch their scotch.
People send people up to the moon.
When they return, well there isn't much.
People be careful not to crest too soon.

[E]The drums march [B7]along at the clip of an I.V. drip       [E]
like [B7]sparks from a muffler dragged [E]down the strip.
Ahhh[B7]
I really hope you'll come [E]around.

[E]It's sunny and [B7]75. It [E]feels so good to [B7]be alive.
[E]come on baby don't [B7]stay inside.
Everybody's coming [E]out tonight.

And repeat the verse chords.

BLUE ARRANGEMENTS

UNUSUAL CHORDS:

[B]I see you gracefully [Bmaj7]swimming with the country club [B7]women
[E]in the Greenwood southside society [C#m]pool.  [B]
[A]I love your amethyst eyes and your [E]protestant thighs
you're a [B]shimmering sociali[F#]te jewel.

[B]From the Carbon [Bmaj7]Dioxide Riding [B7]Academy
[E]to the children's c[B]rusade marching through the [C#m]downtow[B]n.
[A]Well I think I'd die see, if you just said [E]hi to me.
When something [B]breaks it makes a beautiful s[F#]ound.

[E]Sometimes I feel like I'm watching the world
and the world isn't watching me back.
But when I see you, I know I'm in it too.
The waves come [B]in and the waves go back.
[E]The kids in the corner all covered in dirt.
Caught trespassing under the moon.
My father came in from wherever he'd been
and kicked my [B]shit all over the room.

All over the [A]room
All over the [E]room.

[B]     [Ebm]    [A]    [Am]    [E]

The [E]room is dark and heavy with [Ebm]what I want to say.
I see [A]murals in the radio static and on your [E]blue blue jeans.
[B]What would you say if I asked you to run [Ebm]away?
It's been [A]done so many times I hardly [E]know what it means.

I [E]took these blue arrangements and [Ebm]threw them in the sea
when [A]older waves from older caves [E]brought them back to me.
I [B]took these blue arrangements and [Ebm]stored them on a shelf.
With [A]change on the mantle and time in a candle,
in the end a [E]boy raises himself.

WE ARE REAL

UNUSUAL CHORDS:
[F#]/[D7]: 2x0212

[C]Up the hill past [G]694, at the [C]stone wall make a [F]left,
and [C]I will see you [G]soon my friend if these [F]old direction[G]s still [C]direct.
Oh y[G]eah
If these [F]old directions[G] still [C]direct.
[C]Is the problem that we [G]can't see or [C]is it that the problem is [F]beautiful to me?
[C]The birds of Virginia are [G]flying within you
and l[F]ike background [G]singers they [C]all come in threes.
And [F]like background [G]singers they [C]all come in threes.

[Dm]Won't soul music change
[C]now that our souls have turned [C7]strange.
[F]Once a day, [F#]twi[D7]ce a day...
[Dm]And when on and off collide
[C]we'll set our [C7]souls aside and [F]walk away.

[A]We've been raised on replicas of [Dm]fake and winding roads
and [G]day after day up on this beautiful stage
we've been [Em]playing tambourine for minimum wage
but we are [Am]real,
We are [Em]real,
I know we are [Am]real.

[C]Repair is the [G]dream[C] of the broken [F]thing.
Like a [C]message broadcast on an [G]overpass
[F]all my favorite [G]singers couldn't [C]sing.
[F]All my favorite s[G]ingers couldn't [C]sing.

[C]My ski vest has [G]buttons like convenience store m[C]irrors
and they help me [F]see,
that [C]everything in this [G]room right now
[F]is a [G]part of [C]me.
[F]is a [G]part of [C]me.

[Dm]Won't soul music change
[C]now that our souls have turned s[C7]trange.
[F]Once a day, [F#]twi[D7]ce a day...
[Dm]And when on and off collide
[C]we'll set our [C7]souls aside and [F]walk away.

[A]Realizing is how it feels [Dm]inside when it happens to you.
So I [G]took a shot of sugar like snow dumped into the blood
and [Em]children wander off into the ultra-economic
but we are real, [Am]
We are [Em]real
I know we are [Am]real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, [Em]real...
I know we are [Am]real.

SEND IN THE CLOUDS

Send in the [Em]clouds. Bring down the [G]rain.
Shut all the [D]blinds, turn out the [C]lights:
I feel in[G]sane when you [D]get in my [C]bed.
I am the [Em]trick my mother played on the [G]world
Seventeen [D]doctors couldn't [C]decide
whether [G]I should be [D]allowed in the [C]game.

[Cadd9]   [C]         [Amsus4] [Am]

[Fmaj7]Why can't monsters get [C]along with other [D]monsters?
Soi di[A]santra, soi di[E]santra, soi di[A]santra.

I know a [Em]puppy who walked form [G]Kentucky.
Made to [D]East Virginia by [C]dawn.
He had s[G]eventeen i[D]deas in his [C]head.

[Em]Windex tears flow down the robot's face[G]. He never felt a mother's embrace.
My momma [D]named me after a [C]king.
I'm gonna [G]bury my [D]name in [C]you.

[Cadd9]   [C]         [Amsus4] [Am]

[Fmaj7]Why can't monsters get [C]along with other [D]monsters?
Soi di[A]santra, soi dis[E]antra...
they don't [A]wanta.

[C]      ([C], [C#])         [D]                [A]
Why can't monsters get along with other monsters?
[Fmaj7]Soi disantra, soi [D]disantra, o[A]hh
[Fmaj7]Soi disantra, soi [D]disantra, [A]whoa!

Repeat.

LIKE LIKE THE THE THE DEATH

[Bm]Like like [Em]the the the death
[G]Air crickets air crickets [Cmaj7]air crickets air crickets air

Mother and child [Fmaj7]with maga[G]zine
Into a story, [Fmaj7]into a [C]dream
Why is there something [Fmaj7]instead of [G]nothing
And how is the asking built [Fmaj7]into the [C]hunting?

[G]Do you be[Am]lieve in MGM [C]endings?
[G]Everybody's coming [Am]back to Christmas for [C]Texas
[G]Folks who've watched their mother [Am]kill an animal know
That their [C]home is surrounded by places to go
[G](and the west has [Am]made a deal with the [C]sun).

[Bm]My life at [Em]home very day:
Drinking [G]Coke in a kitchen with a [Cmaj7]dog
Who doesn't know his name.
[Bm]Oh right it c[Em]ould've been anyone
[G]Grass rabbits grass rabbits [Cmaj7]grass rabbits grass rabbits grass

Nobody cares [Fmaj7]about a dead[G] hooker
Looking like one, [Fmaj7]standing for [C]money
Life finds a limit at the [Fmaj7]edge of our [G]bodies
A stranger begins [Fmaj7]wherever I [C]see her.

[G]Let's live where the [Am]indoors and outdoors [C]meet
[G]All the kids in the [Am]commonwealth are [C]free.
[G]Every morning you for[Am]give me, every evening you re[C]live me
And the pattern itself is what you give me
[G](the morning has [Am]cut a deal with the [C]east).

[Bm]Like like [Em]the the the death
[G]Air crickets air crickets [Cmaj7]air crickets air crickets air

BUCKINGHAM RABBIT

[G]Back then I had a B[F]uckingham [Em]rabbit.
I'd been lonely since she found Christ.
Now is the time to depend on the law:
the [D]nights of my professional [Em]life.

[G]I was living in a [F]very young [Em]city.
Grand piano, great lakes, good-bye.
If you ask me my name, it's high-low-jack in the game.
I can [D]track a single bee to the [Em]hive.

Every [G]single [F]game was a [Em]blowout.
And the Nascar blurred into porn.
Scenic this, scenic that,
don't fall for the traps
Of the [D]man who was never [Em]born.

[Fmaj7]And so the rent became [Am]whiskey,
[Fmaj7]and then my life became r[Am]isky:
[Fmaj7]And so the rent became w[Am]hiskey (whiskeyyeyey),
[Fmaj7]shattered dogs on the [Am]rocks.

[G]At the back of the [F]bar there's a [Em]couch
where the lonely people go and lie.
They talk to the honky tonk psychiatrist
into the [D]wee hours of the [Em]night.

[G]The factories on [F]muscle r[Em]elaxers.
The pine perfume of hilltown floors.
The lover, the thinker, the talker, the singer
won't be [D]lucid for her [Em]anymore.

[Fmaj7]And so the rent became [Am]whiskey,
[Fmaj7]and then my life became r[Am]isky:
[Fmaj7]And so the rent became [Am]whiskey (whiskeyyeyey),
[Fmaj7]shattered dogs on the r[Am]ocks.

SOLO OVER CHORUS CHORDS

[G]When you know how I [F]feel I feel [Em]better
When you're 15 you want to look poor.
Do unto others, and run like a mother
I don't [D]want to look poor [Em]anymore

[G]Jesus in a [F]runaway [Em]shelter,
said "The deaf have pictures of you."
From the digital fountains to the analog mountains,
let the [D]mirrow express the [Em]room.

HONK IF YOU'RE LONELY

[D]Radio's on, feeling all right
[E]Cruising the strip on a Saturday night.
[G]I smile and I wave and I hide all my pain
but the sign on my bumper [D]gives me away:

[G]Honk if you're [A]lonely [D]tonight
[G]If you need a friend to [D]get through the night
[G]A toot on your horn, a [D]flash of your brights
[G]Honk if you're [A]lonely [D]tonight.

(verse chords)
I know honky-tonk where we can go.
A booth in the back with the lights way down low.
The jukebox is playing a sad melody
for heart-broken lovers like you and me.

We'll laugh and we'll flirt and we'll dance every dance
and before the night's over we'll take a chance.
The morning will find us with a smile on our face
and we'll be together in a lover's embrace.

[G]Honk if you're [A]lonely [D]tonight
[G]If you need a friend to [D]get through the night
[G]A toot on your horn, a [D]flash of your brights
[G]Honk if you're l[A]onely [D]tonight.

(verse chords)
I know it seems sad to be so damn blue
but there's always the chance that you'll meet someone new.
I know that somewhere waiting for me
is a sad lonely lover with a bumper that reads:

[G]Honk if you're[A] lonely [D]tonight
[G]If you need a friend to [D]get through the night
[G]A toot on your horn, a [D]flash of your brights
[G]Honk if you're [A]lonely [D]tonight.

THE WILD KINDNESS

[Em]    [C]    [C]    [Em]

[Em]I wrote a letter to a [C]wildflower
[C]on a classic nitrogen [Em]afternoon.
[Em]Some power that hardly [C]looked like power
[C]said I'm perfect in an empty [G]room.

Four dogs in the d[D]istance
each stands for a k[Am]indness.
Bluebirds lodged in an [C]evergreen altar...
I'm gonna [G]shine out in the[D] wild [Am]silence
and spurn the [C]sin of giving in.

[Em]Oil paintings of [C]x-rated picnics.
[C]Behind the walls of medication I'm [Em]free.
[Em]Every leaf in a [C]compact mirror
[C]hits a target that we can't [G]see.

Grass grows in the [D]icebox.
The year ends in the next [Am]room
It is autumn and my c[C]amouflage is dying
instead of[G] time there [D]will be l[Am]ateness
instead of t[G]ime there [D]will be l[Am]ateness
instead of [G]time there [D]will be [Am]lateness
and let [C]forever be delayed.

SOLO OVER VERSE AND CHORUS CHORDS

[Em]I dyed my hair in a [C]motel void
[C]met the coroner at Dreamgate F[Em]rontier
[Em]He took may hand said I'll h[C]elp you boy
[C]ff you really want to d[G]isappear

Four dogs in the d[D]istance
each stands for a [Am]silence.
Bluebirds lodged in an e[C]vergreen altar...
I'm gonna s[G]hine out in the [D]wild [Am]kindness
I'm gonna [G]shine out in the [D]wild [Am]kindness
I'm gonna [G]shine out in the w[D]ild k[Am]indness
and hold the [C]world to its word.

Aaaand finish on a Bm.

More songs by Silver Jews

Browse more →