Verse 1:

^DmChicago is ^Fwhere the ^Cwoman down^Cstairs ^DmStarved herself to ^E7death last ^Dmsummer

(Pattern repeats throughout verses) Her boyfriend Ted ate hotdogs and wept With the grey rats out on the fire escape In a thrift store chair I drank cases of beer And dreamed of lying down on the L-tracks The trains roared by under smoke grey skies Lake Michigan rose and fell like a bird Chorus:

And when the ^Fwind ^Cscreamed up Ashland ^CAvenue The ^Fcorner bars were ^Cfull by ^Cnoon

And the ^Fold stewbums ^Csliding down their ^Cstools ^DmAte boiled eggs and ^E7fed beer to their ^Dmdogs

Verse 2: The woman downstairs lost all her hair And wore a beret in the laundry room I borrowed her soap and bought her a coke But she left it on the dryer She died in June weighing 82 Her boyfriend went back to New York The cops wandered through her dusty rooms One of them stole her TV Chorus

The Handsome Family - Woman downstairs