Grandpa, A Reflection (California) chords and lyrics - BRENDA WONG AOKI

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[Verse 1]
[G][C][G][D][E]
[Dm][G][C][G][Dm]
[G]Gra[C]ndpa.
[Dm][E][Am][C]
[Am]He lived alone in an o[D]ld tin r[Dm]oof
[C]shack [G]made [E]out of tar paper
and bits of [Dm]wood he'd pick
up on the [G]beach.
[C]No [G]electricity, [Dm]no r[Am]unning water.[G]
[C]He never rea[G]lly learned Eng[Dm]lish,
[Am]and his [G]strange,
gruff ways [C]used to [G]scare me.[Dm]
I can re[Am]member my first trip
to grandpa's.
I was eight years old.
When we were [Dm]al most there,
[Am]I saw a sign that said, how long?
Then my mother explained that how
long was grandpa's best friend.
They had come here
when they were 18 from Canton.
Then I saw a dwarf,
right out of Snow White.
It was droopy, but no,
it was my grandpa.
Inside his shack,
there were frogs in the sink, ribbiting.
I handed a bunch of flowers to grandpa.
stupid bamboo heads, Grandpa hollered.
My mother turned to my father.
We should have brought a plant.
I told you, we should have brought a plant.
You see, Chinese people think
cut flowers are an omen of death.
When it was time for bed,
Grandpa put blankets
down on bales of seaweed.
I gotta go to the bathroom,
I said.
Mom handed me a metal pail.
We call it a thunderbucket, she said.
Why do you call it that?
You'll see.
When we left,
our car was covered with pigeon droppings,
and that's what I
[Dm]remember from [Am]my first trip.
At 15, I returned to Grandpa's.
This time, the sign read,
How long is a Chinaman?
Grandpa had penciled in,
is a Chinaman,
to help out the mailman.
That summer,
I found myself wearing men's galoshes,
grandpa's overalls,
and a big coolie hat.
I looked [Dm]real FOB, [Am]fresh off the boat.
[Dm]At 3 or 4 in t[Am]he morning,
when the tide [C]was low,
[G]Grandpa's old faithful green
[Am]flashlight showing [G]the way,
[C]we climbed down the cliff
[Am]on steps he'd hewn from [G]the rock.
[Am]I was slipping and crawling on
the wet rocks,
trying to [C]keep up with
[Dm]Grandpa's short [Am]stocky legs.
All [G]around [C]us [G]were tidepoo[D]ls,
[Am]pink[Dm] and g[G]reen s[C]ea ane[G]mones,
[Dm]orange starf[G]ish, baby [C]octopus,[G]
[D]and[Am] little red[Dm] crabs.[G]
[C]Fidee! Fid[G]ee! Hur[Dm]ry up!
Twist and pull [G]and [C]throw
in the bas[G]ket.
[Dm]We gathered [G]the sea[E]weed.
[Dm]Twist [G]and pull [C]and throw in [G]the basket.
[Dm]The wop!
Ouch!
Grandpa [G]would wop
[C]my head
with wet seaweed.
[G]Wat[Dm]ch wave!
Watch wave! [G]he shouted.
[C]This was [G]dangerous [Dm]work.
[G]One slip [C]and Mother [G]Ocean
ate you [Am]up.[Dm][G][C]
[G][Dm]
At sunset,
[Am]Grandpa would build a fire in the stove,
shoo the frogs out the sink,
go down the cliff
and using a rock tied with kite string
he'd attach a hook, no bait or anything,
and throw it in the water.
There was a fish!
It [Am]was better than a refrigerator.
On special occasions,
Grandpa would [Dm]bring out a Chinese delicacy,
pickled duck's feet.
He [Dm]would walk them
on the table towards me.
little web toenails clicking.
He [G]loved to do that.
After dinner,
Grandpa would pour Chinese
whiskey into a teacup.
And in another, he'd pour me tea.
This for me and this for company.
He'd light a big fat stogie and say,
Ab[Am]landa, how's [Dm]school?
Brenda [Am]how's school?
That was Grand[Am]pa's favorite
American line.
In Chinese,
words take on different meanings
if you change the intonation.
Grandpa would change his tones
and think he was saying something
else.
Ablanda, how's school?
Grandpa, tide pools are neat.
A [Am]blender, how's school?
I want to go exploring.
A blender, [Am]how's school?
Maybe tomorrow we can take a day off.
We used to talk like that [E]for hours.[Am]
That last night,
Grandpa and I poured gasoline
on the rocks
and torched them so that
the new seaweed would grow.
Long into the night,
the flames burned [Dm]on the waves.
When my parents picked me up,
I kissed Grandpa's bald head
between his big floppy ears,
and he said, You go now! Go! Go, go!
[G]When we pulled away from the shack,
he stood there all alone
in the cow pasture with his flashlight.
[G]That little beam [Am]never wavered
[E]until we went up the mountain
and [Am]dropped over the crest.
Grandpa died when I was a junior in college,
and I went back with the rest of the family
to clean out the shack.
Some of my aunties tore the place up,
looking for treasure,
but all they found were two
[G]teacups.[C][Dm]
[E][C]
[Am]One for Grandpa.
[Dm]an d one f[C]or company.[G][E]
Grandpa [Dm]was buried up near San Francisco
[G]in a Chinese [C]cemetery
[D]next [Dm]to the ceremony
shopping [G]center.
[C]Everyone [G]threw cut [Dm]flowers on his grave,
[G]but [C]I remembered and[G] bro[Dm]ught a
small [G]green [C]pla[G]nt.[C]
You