Okkervil River - From a cutlass cruiser

^FWhat a day we had… I^C figured I’d be feeling bad, but^Dm I don’t feel a^Bb thing. They read from^Dm Mark and then^Bb bring us all up^C Shingle Camp Hill Road. ^FThrowing flowers at the^C ground felt like hours, with the^Dm grown-ups whimper^Bbing. In the^Dm blown-out green of^Bb spring I see the^Eb whole small town ex^Bbplode.

^CAnd then driving to our house at night, the stars shoot out their^Bb shine behind the ^DmOlds win^Bbdows. My father^Dm quiet behind the^Bb wheel, I fully^Dm feel that he knows^Bb where he’s trying to^C go. ^CAnd then they carry me inside, this other world behind my^Bb eyes, this bright-lit^Dm neon^Bb glow. And then it’s^Dm morning every^Bbwhere, and summer^Dm air, and there’s the^Bb stere^Co.

^FThe Electric Company was ^Cplaying when my mom left me ^Dmfive minutes on the ^Bbcouch, and I was ^Dmblue when she came ^Bbout, and wasn't ^Cbreathing. ^FThat Opel flew through town, ^Call down 120, and around the ^DmLebanon green, and ^Bbout. I don't know ^Dmwhat they were thinking ^Bbabout. I don't want ^Ebto imagine ^Bbit.

^CIn came the doctor, wearing white. Carefully, he cut a ^Bbcircle ^Dmin my ^Bbthroat and took a ^Dmlittle plastic ^Bbtube and looped it ^Dmthrough my lungs and ^Bbsealed me ^Cclosed. ^CMy parents were called into the room, with no idea what to ^Bbdo but frightened ^Dmto say ^Bbso. They showed them ^Dmhow to clean it ^Bbout, and showed them ^Dmhow to set me ^Bbdown, and sent me^C home.

^F1983 - the ^Capparition came to me and ^Bbspoke to me^Dm all ^Bbnight, frozen ^Dminside my bed, ^Bbbone-white, my brother ^Cfast asleep. ^FAnd, under surgery, a ^Csecond time it came and showed me a ^Bbhouse in ^Dmouter ^Bbspace, another ^Dmboy who had my ^Bbface, a mom and ^Dmdad who weren't the ^Bbsame... I woke up and my ^Ebaunt gave me a ^Bbbook.

^CShow me the neatest place to hide, to crawl inside the silver ^Bbgym. Don't tell a ^Dmsingle other ^Bbsoul. Beneath the ^Dmbleachers is a ^Bblighter, and a ^Dmsneaker, and a ^Bbfrozen spar^Crow. ^CI broke into the church at night and pulled out all the ^Bbstops and heard that ^Dmorgan over^Bbload, and ^Dm screamed, This giant clashy ^Bbchord is for Our ^DmLord. Up where he ^Bbis. Up Where he ^Cgoes.

^CUp that music^Dm floats,^{Dsus4 C}leaving family, friends and^Dm home down so small below. And it's still^Bb there for all I know.