"Starry Stairs," from the album "The Stand Ins" by Okkervil River INTRO: E / E / G#m / G#m C#m / B / A / A F#m / F#m / C#m / C#m B / B / C#m B / A VERSE:

They asked for ^Emore. (What do you ^G#mthink this fan club is ^C#mfor?) ^B I slithered ^Aup each rose corri^F#mdor. I kept a ^C#mwarm, safe place at my ^Bcore, ^C#m ^B before I ^Alost it. They asked for ^Eblood. What do you ^G#mthink this woman's made ^C#mof? ^B I stuck a ^Asmall, thin pin in my ^F#mthumb. They dreamt a ^C#mlow, long line to be ^Bcrossed-- ^C#m ^B and I ^Acrossed it.

CHORUS:

I'm a^Blive, but a different kind of alive ^C#m than the way I used to be. ^B ^C#m ^B ^A I re^Btire to a split white smile to be seen ^C#m in an old stag magazine. ^B ^C#m ^B ^A

(VERSE) And this girl's eyes, when they were roughly wrenched open, I could see a starry stair up your thigh. You hid behind your hair (oh, but I saw you were smiling), (CHORUS)

while all these ^Bguys, all these curious sets of eyes, ^C#m safe behind a TV screen, ^B ^C#m ^B ^A I let them ^Bpry, pick apart and hang up to dry ^C#m almost every piece of me. ^B ^C#m ^B ^A ^B ^C#m ^B ^A

N.C.

(If you don't love me, I'm sorry.)

INTERLUDE: [SAME AS INTRO / VERSE] (VERSE) Oh, what a trip. Oh, what a shimmering silver ship. Oh, what a hot half-life I half-lived. And the stripes and stars, how they stripped off of the siding when my life ripped off from the part that played as a kid into the part that blazed through your lids to find a warm, safe place and to sit, curled up, inside it. (CHORUS) So here's "goodbye," from the part that's staying behind to the part that has to leave, to the sublime lips that were never spoiled by a line, to the face inside the beam, OUTRO:

who wasn't me. ^B ^C#m ^B ^A Who wasn't me, ^Boh n^C#mo no, ^B ^A She's not me, ^B ^C#m ^Boh ^Aoh.

Okkervil River - Starry stairs