The air is filled with lead
Lights are going down
They told me to forget you
They never told me how
I sleep here in the parlor
With my boots still on my feet
Living down in the darkness
I pray your ghost to keep, I pray like this...
Do-do do-do do do do-do-do
Do-do do-do do do do-do-do
Do... Do...
I saw the skies open up
Above a blood red moon
The city lights were choking all the stars
The cry belonged to you, it's your turn, cry like this...
Do-do do-do do do do-do-do
Do-do do-do do do do-do-do
Do... Do...
Do-do do-do do do do-do-do
Do-do do-do do do do-do-do
Do... Do...
The curtain's getting heavy
The lights are coming up
I'd wish you all the best
If wishing were enough
All these fading pictures
All so tired and bent
I'd tell you goodbye, mama
If goodbye was what I meant, watch me wave goodbye
Do-do do-do do do do-do-do
Do-do do-do do do do-do-do
Do... Do...
Do-do do-do do do do-do-do
Do-do do-do do do do-do-do
Do... Do...
Do-do do-do do do do-do-do
Do-do do-do do do do-do-do
Do... Do...
Do-do do-do do do do-do-do
Do-do do-do do do do-do-do
Do... Do...
California
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D
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D
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G
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I've beaten my brain with benzodiazepines
Momma won't tell ya that love is a monstrous thing
The sky's a blue vapor, it's painfully true
I prayed it would rain and drown my feelings for you
D
Em
D
G
D
I drove the fire roads at night in a busted up car
I searched the skyline in vain for one goddamn star
This city's a dream, but I'm wide awake
Caught up in their lights with nothing to say
My soul has been bled, I don't know for sure
If my heart is breaking, is yours breaking, too?
I've heard the Mission bells ring through the salty breeze
I've seen politicians born on a thousand TVs
There's a knife in every back and one in every hand
And I swear it ain't you, it's California I can't stand
I'll be right there with you when the last lamp runs dry
When the last hands been played, when the black banners fly
When the songbirds have all broken their throats
When the fire of St. Joan is nothing but smoke
I've seen the fog rolling in and the flashbulbs throw sparks
We suffer in time, but illumine the dark
There's a knife in every back and one in every hand and
I swear it ain't you, it's California I can't stand
I swear it ain't you...
It's California...
Little Colored Balloons
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C
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F
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Am
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G
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x2
C
F
C
F
Up above the moon and underneath the gun
C
F
C
F
Far away from Mississippi all the buttons come undone
Dm
G
Dm
G
A hornet's nest inside my brain, rattling like a submachine
Am
G
F
Saran Wrap and little colored balloons
Am
G
F
A black nickel, a needle and a spoon
Dm
G
You say this is ain't what I am?
C
F
Well, this is what I do to warn your ghost away
Dm
G
I know you don't believe in magic
F
G
Nobody does, not anymore
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C
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F
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Am
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G
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x2
This uniform is stifling, it's hotter than the heat
That's smothering my shoulders and burning up my feet
Every word's under review, but the jury's guilty, too...
Saran Wrap and little colored balloons
A black nickel, a needle and a spoon
You say this is ain't what I am?
Well, this is what I do to warn your ghost away
I know you don't believe in magic
Well, nobody does, not anymore
I watch the waves roll in and roll out just the same
Like a song and dance, it's the oldest of his games
I shut my eyes but through these tears a mean old world reappears
Saran Wrap and little colored balloons
A black nickel, a needle and a spoon
You say this is ain't what I am?
Well, this is what I do to warn your ghost away
I know you don't believe in magic
Nobody does, not anymore
Why try and tell you, when you don't give a fuck?
You don't believe in magic, you don't believe in luck
There is no "right", there is no "wrong"
Same damn chorus, same damn song
Saran Wrap and little colored balloons
A black nickel, a needle and a spoon
You say this is ain't what I am?
Well, this is what I do to warn your ghost away
I know you don't believe in magic
Nobody does, not anymore
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C
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F
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Am
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G
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x2
I held my hands out, blood-stained and I got my doubts
I tried to wash it off, yeah, I tried to wash it off
Red as Southern clay, blood-red as Mississippi clay
And yes, it still remains, goddammit, it still remains!
Where is Pilate's water? Tell me, where is Pilate's water?
Nightmares in daylight, I'm stealing the birthright
Off 16th and Mission! Off 16th and Mission!
I took an ambulance ride, they said I should've died
Right there on 16th and Mission, on 16th and Mission
I still miss you so much, I still miss you so goddamn much
On 16th and Mission, I'm right here at 16th and Mission
Sing it!
Photograph
D
G
D
G
I wish we weren't below a blanket of smog
D
G
D
G
Jesus Christ up above watching it turn
D
G
D
G
I still remember how fire feel from the skies
D
G
D
G
I watched the tears from your eyes burn holes in the street
A
Save the photograph of you laughing at yourself two summers ago
Learn to smile in between
Led down, before the crooks and the crown
Before the weathered and worn-down, the tall and untouched
I've been unnamed since the day I was born
With a crest made of thorns, in a world of gunpowder
A
Save the photograph of you laughing at yourself two summers ago
Learn to smile in between
It gets worse here, I know
It gets worse here, I know
It gets worse here, I know
It gets worse here, I know
But it burned
They taught me early on
Too soon, I believe
How to wipe my face off
With spit on my sleeve
We weren't there to watch it burn
What we had never did return
No, I wasn't there to watch it burn
But it burned
Now to kill your ghost
I lay down on this couch
With chiva in my blood
And your belt in my mouth
We weren't there to watch it burn
They way things were never did return
I wasn't there to watch it burn
But it burned
Let it burn down
Let it all burn down
Burn!
No Te Da Ganas De Reir, Senor Malverde?
Am
C
Am
C
The haze settles round this city, chokes it like a noose
Am
C
Dm
G
All of us, we live and we die, we ain't gotta choose
So long ago when I first saw you, before it all began
I fell in love and I still remain tattered and out of tune
Am
G
F
What keeps me alive is gonna kill me in the end
Am
G
F
'Cause "nobody's baby" is everybody's friend
The ocean laps the seashore in crystal blues and greens
I wanna take you with me to stare into the sea
What would it matter? You say you're doing fine
All these haunted memories of you are remnants of ghosts here in my mind
What keeps me alive is gonna kill me in the end
'Cause "nobody's baby" is everybody's friend
It all comes pouring out in these stagnant melodies
Don't act like you've been crucified when only you can set us free
Yeah, you can set us free
I don't need nobody, I'll tear down this machine
Then build it back with my bare hands until it's all routine
I oughta head out to the woods, 300 grains a shell
Take the side of ignorance, and blow the whole damn thing to hell
What keeps me alive is gonna kill me in the end
If "nobody's baby" is everybody's friend
I've said my vows in silence, I've cried your name in vain
I've stumbled through these city's streets, I've bathed my soul in rain
I want you back beside, the broken days have passed
If love is what we give, I wanna be your last
What keeps me alive is gonna kill me in the end
She's nobody's baby but she's everybody's friend
(Can I come back in now)
Southern Sky
Dm
I was asleep
Bb
I woke up to the sound of it
Dm
Sashaying down the hall
Dm
Remnants of secrets
Bb
Our precious lives
Dm
And I'm terrified of it all
I've got no past
There is no future
This sickness follows me around
I've got no time
The hour's nearing
Bb
C
F
And I'm gonna burn this old house down
F
C
Bb
She knows my face, my broken body
Bb
C
And I still see it in her eyes
That crucifix, that bound our bodies
Underneath the southern sky
Trapped in the crowd, cheated by misfortune
I pray his light will be her guide
Into my arms, these crooked arms
Underneath the southern sky
The devil's paintbrush
Holds just one color
It pushes out your form
As you laughed and tell me
Playing with matches
Will only keep me warm
The stars were falling
All around us
In this filthy little town
And while I slept there
You screamed into your pillow
And I'm so sorry but I never heard a sound
She knows my face, my broken body
And I still see it in her eyes
That crucifix that bound our bodies
Underneath the southern sky
Trapped in the crowd, cheated by misfortune
I pray his light will be her guide
Into my arms, these crooked arms
Underneath the southern sky
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Dm
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Dm
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Bb
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Bb
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x4
Key:
G
G
D
C
She knows my face, my broken body
C
D
And I still see it in her eyes
That crucifix that bound our bodies
Underneath the southern sky
Trapped in the crowd, we were cheated by misfortune
I pray his light will be her guide
Into my arms, into these broken, twisted arms
Underneath the southern skies
Am
If I'm To Blame
Am
F
Gsus4
G
Pistol in my pocket, a hand down the front of your pants
And you say, love only makes me bleed
That bitch wipes her face off, that faggot combs her hair
And you say, how much romance could you need
F
C
Am
C
It's me, baby, it's just me
F
G
Am
C
And do you want to know the truth
F
G
Am
C
My hand's tied behind my back
F
G
Am
And I'm holding out for you
So debonair, so fucking full of shit
And you believed it all
Give me another hit, put me to bed
Carry me back home
It's just me, baby, it's me
And do you want to know the truth
My hand's tied behind my back
And I'm holding out for you
If I'm to blame for carrying a torch
Then let the guilt me mine
Let it break me, let it strangle everything
Let it kill me in time
It's just me, baby, it's me
And do you want to know the truth
My hand's tied behind my back
And I'm holding out for you
To tell the truth and to tell it well
It takes another lie
So you tell that fuck to make it good
And then you say goodbye
'Cause it's just me, baby, it's me
And do you want to know the truth
My hand's tied behind my back
And I'm holding out for you
Penny Nails
Em
D
C
I wake up to you laughing in your sleep
Beneath telephone lines, above burned out basements
You spit every word your pretty little mouth won't keep
Then you wonder out loud how the world keeps spinning
I want everything inside that shed out back
All those penny nails and useless fertilizer
I wanna hear bolt cutters and breaking glass
Burning violins and your old man's motorcycle
C
D
G
This isn't love, but I need it just the same
This isn't love, but I need it just the same
This isn't love (this isn't love)
This isn't love
I want Tim to fix my transmission and say it's alright
That it'll work out fine, for Tim to say it one more time
While someone else's satellite creeps across a flat black sky
'Cause one I built in Fifth Grade never left Mississippi
This isn't love, but I need it just the same
This isn't love, but I need it just the same
This isn't love (this isn't love)
This isn't love
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C
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x4
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D
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x4
You and me we were born apart with the same last name, the same distance between us
I can still see the breath between our faces: frozen spirits in the air that night
I don't wanna see their smiling mouths now turning against me, turning to rust
You kiss like a stone, but I need it just the same
This isn't love, but I need it just the same
This isn't love, but I need it just the same
This isn't love (this isn't love)
This isn't love (this isn't love)
This isn't love