only skin Chords

Lyrics & chords

[Verse 1]
[F]And there was a booming[G] abo[Am]ve you
That [F]night,
black air[G]planes flew [Am]over the sea
[F]And they were lowing
and shifting [Am]like
Beached whales
[C]Shelled [F]snails
As you strained and you squinted [Am]to see
The re[F]treat of their hairless
and [Am]blind cavalry

[Verse 2]
You froze [Em]in your sand s[D]hoal
[C]Prayed [Am]for y[Bb]our poor soul
[F]Sky was a [C]bread roll,
[Bb]soaking in a [Dm]milk- bowl
An[Em]d when the bread [D]broke,
[C]fell in bricks [Bb]of wet smoke
[F]My sleeping [C]heart [Bb]woke,
and my wak[Dm]ing heart spoke
[F]And there was a silence you took

[Verse 3]
[Am]
to mean something
Run[F], sing
For alive you will [Am]evermore [G]be
[F]And the plague of the greasy
black en[Am]gines a- skulkin'
[Em]Has gone [F]east
While you're left to ex
[Am]plain them to me
[F]Released from their hairless
and [Am]blind cavalry

[Verse 4]
With your [Em]hands in [Am]your pock[D]ets,
[C]stu[Bb]bbily running
[F]To where [C]I'm [Bb]unfresh, undressed
and yawning
Well, what [Em]is this crazi[D]ness?
[C]This [Bb]crazy talking?
You [F]caught some [C]small death
[Bb]when you were sleep[Dm]walking

[Verse 5]
[A]It was a [Em]dark [Am]dream,
[D]darlin', it's [A]over[Am]
[F]The [C]fir[Bb]ebreather is
beneath the clover
[A]Beneath his breathing [Am]there is cold [D]clay,
[A]forever
[F]A toothless h[C]ound- dog
[Bb]choking on a [Dm]feather
[F#m]But I [A]took my

[Verse 6]
[Bm]fishingpole, fearing
[D]your fever
[F#m]Down to [A]the [Bm]swimminghole, where there grows
[D]bitter herb
[F#m]That bloom[A]s but one day a year by the [D]riverside,
I'd bring it [Gm]here
[F]Apply it gen[Am]tly
[Bb]To the love yo[Dm]u've lent me
[F]While the river was twisting and braid

[Verse 7]
[Am]
ing, the bait bobbed
[G]An d the string [F]sobbed,
as it cut through the [Am]hustling breeze
[F]And I watched how the water
was kneading [Am]so neatly
Gone [G]treacly
[F]Nearly slowed to a sto[Am]p in this heat
In a fren[F]zy coiling flush along the
[Am]muscles [G]beneath

[Verse 8]
[Am]Press on me, we [Em]are [G]restless things
[Am]Webs of seaw[C]eed are [Em]swaddling
[G]And you[Am] call upon the dusk
[C]Of the musk [Em]of a s[G]quid
[Am]Shot full of ink,
until you [Em]sink into [G]your crib
[Dm]Rowing

[Verse 9]
[F]along, among the [Am]reeds,
among the [C]rushes
[Dm]I heard your son[F]g,
before my [C]heart had time [Am]to hush it
[Dm]Smell of [F]a stone fruit being
[Am]cut and being opened
[Dm]Smell of a [F]low and of a [C]lazy
[Am]cinder smoking

[Verse 10]
[Am]And when the [C]fire [G]moves [C]away[Em]
[Am]Fire moves [G]away, [F]son
[C]Why [G]would [C]you say
[Am]I was the la[G]st one[Am]?[F]

[Verse 11]
[F]
[Am]Scrape your knee, [Em]it is [G]only skin
[Am]Makes the sound of v[Em]iolins
[G]And when I c[Am]ut your hair,
and leave the [Em]birds all of the trim[G]mings
[Am]I am the happiest woman
[Em]among all [G]women

[Verse 12]
And the shal[Db]low [Fm]water
Stretches as far as [Db]I can se[Fm]e
Knee- [Db]deep, trudging along
[Fm]The seagull [Db]weeps [Fm]"so long"

[Verse 13]
[Db]Humming a threshing song
[Fm]Until the night is over
Hold on, hold [Db]on
Hold your horses back
from the fickle dawn
[Fm]I have got some business

[Verse 14]
[Fm]
out at the edge of town
[Db]Candy weighing both of my pockets down
'Til [Fm]I can hardly stay afloat,
from the weight of them
[Db]An d knowing how the common-
folk condem[Fm]n
What it is I do, to you, to keep you warm
[Db]Being a woman, being a woman
[Bbm]But always up the mountainside

[Verse 15]
[Bbm]
you're clambering
Groping blindly, hungry for anything
Picking through your pocket linings,
well, what is this?
Scrap of sas[Db]sa f[Ebsus4]ras, eh Sis[Eb]yphus?
I [Fm]see the blossoms broke and wet after the rain

[Verse 16]
[Db]
Little sister,
he will be back again
[Fm]I have washed a thousand
spiders down the drain
[Db]Spiders ghosts hang soaked
and dan[Bbm]gelin'
Silently from all the blooming
cherry trees
[Db]In tiny nooses, safe [Bbm]from everyone
Nothing but a nuisance gone now,
dead and done
[Db]Be a woman, be[Ebsus4] a woman
[Fm]Though

[Verse 17]
we felt the spray
of the waves
We decided to stay till [Bbm]the tide
rose too [Bb]far[Ab][Fm]
We weren't afraid,
'cause we know what you are
And you know that we [Bbm]know
what you [Ab]are[Eb]

[Verse 18]
[Cm]Awful atoll
Oh, in[Eb]calculable
indiscreetness and [Db]sorrow
Bawl, bellow
Sibyl [Fm]sea- cow, all done up in a bow
[Cm]Toddle

[Verse 19]
and roll
Teeth an [Eb]im palpable bit of leather
While [Db]yarrow,
heather and [Fm]hollyhock
Awkwardly molt [Eb]along the [Fm]shore

[Verse 20]
[Fm]Are you [Db]mine?
[Fm]My heart?
[Db]Mine anymore?
[Eb]Stay[Fm][F]

[Verse 21]
with me for [Fm]awhile[Db]
That's an awfully real [Fm]gun
I know [F]life will lay [Fm]you down[Db]
As the lightning has lately [F]done
Failing [Fm]this,

[Verse 22]
[F]fail[Am] ing this
Fol[C]low me, my [G]sweetest friend
To [F]see what you anointed
in pointing [Am]your gun there
[C]Lay it down, nice and slow There is

[Verse 23]
[G]
nowhere to go, save [F]up
Up where the light, undiluted,
[Am]is weaving [C]in a drunk [Fm]dream
At the [F]sight of [Am]my baby, out back
[F]Back on the patio wat[Am]ching
the bats bring [G]night [F]in
While, elsewhere,
estuar[Am]ies of wax- white
[F]Wend, endlessly,
towards [Am]sea shores unmapped
Last week [Em]our picture [D]window

[Verse 24]
[C]
produced [Bb]a half- word
[F]Heavy and [C]hollow,
[Bb]hit by a brown b[Dm]ird
[Em]We stood and [D]watched her
[C]gape like a [Bb]rattlesnake
[F]And paint [C]an d labour [Bb]over every [Dm]in take
[A]I said a sort o[Am]f pray

[Verse 25]
[D]er for
some sort of [A]rare grace
[F]Then thought I [C]ought to [Bb]take
her to a higher [Dm]place
[A]Said "dog nor vulture nor cat
[D]shall toy [A]with [Am]you
[F]And though you [C]die, bird,
[Bb]you will have a [Dm]fine view"[D]
[F#m]Then in my hot

[Verse 26]
[A]hand
She [Bm]slumped her sick [D]weight
[F#m]We tramped through the
[A]poison [Bm]oak
[D]Heartbroke and inchoate

[Verse 27]
[F#m]The dogs were sn[A]apping
And you [Bm]cuffed their [D]collars
[F#m]While I [A]climbed the tree- house
[Bm]Then how I [D]hollered
Well, she'd [F#m]lain, as [A]still as a stone,
in [D]my palm, for a lifetime or [Gm]two
[F]

[Verse 28]
Then, saw the [C]treetops,
[Bb]cocked her head and up and [Dm]flew
While, [F#m]back in t[A]he world
that moves, often
According [D]to the hoarding of [Gm]these clues
[F]Dogs still [C]run roughly around
[Bb]Little tufts of [Dm]finch- down
[F]And the cities

[Verse 29]
we passed were
a flicker[Am]ing wasteland
But [G]his [F]hand in my hand made them
[Am]hale [G]and harmless
[F]While down in the lowlands
the crops [Am]are all coming
We [F]have everything
Life is thundering [Am]blissful towards death
In a stam[F]pede of his fumbling
green [Am]gentleness[G]
[Am]You stopped [C]by, [Am]I was[C]

[Verse 30]
[Em]all [G]alive
[Am]In my doorway,[C]
[Em]we shucked a[G]nd jived
And when you [Am]wept, I was gone
See, I [C]got gone when I got [Em]wise
[G]But I c[Am]an't with certai[C]nty
say [Em]we sur[G]vived
[Dm]Then down, and

[Verse 31]
[F]down
And down, and [Am]down
And down, and deep[C]er
[Dm]Stoke without sound
[F]The blameless fla[C]mes
You endless [Am]sleeper
[Dm]Through fire be[F]low, and fire

[Verse 32]
[Am]above,
and [C]fire within
[Dm]Sleeped through the [F]things that couldn't
have [C]been if you hadn't [Am]have been

[Verse 33]
And when the fire [G]moves [C]away
[Am]Fire moves [G]away, [Am]son[F]
And [C]why [G]would you [C]say
[Am]I was the la[G]st one[F]?

[Verse 34]
[Am]All my b[C]ones they are [Em]gone, [Am]gone, [Em]gone
[Am]Take [C]my [Am]bones, I don't[G] need none[Dm]
[Am]Cold, cold [C]cupboard, lord,
[Em]nothing to chew [G]on
[Am]Suck all [C]day on [G]a cherry [F]stone

[Verse 35]
[Am]Dig [C]a little hole,
not [Em]three [Am]inch[Em]es round[G]
[Am]Spit your [C]pit in a hole [G]in
[Am]the ground[G][Dm]
[Am]Weep upon [C]the spot [Am]for the
starving [G]of me
'Till [Am]up grow a [F]fi[Am]ne young
[G]cherry [F]tree

[Verse 36]
[Am]Well when the bough [C]break
[Am]s, what'll you [Em]make for [G]me?
A [Am]little [C]willow cabin to [G]rest
[Dm]on your [Am]knee
What'll I [C]do with a [Am]trinket [Em]such as this[G]?
[Am]Think of your [C]woman,
who's gone [G]to [F]the west

[Verse 37]
But [Am]I'm starving and freezing
in my [Em]measly old [G]bed
Then [Am]I'll crawl across the [C]salt flats
to [G]stroke your sweet [Dm]head
[Am]Come across [C]the desert
[Am]with [Em]no shoes on[G]
[Am]I love you tru[C]ly,
[Am]or I lov[G]e no o[Am]ne[G][F]

[Interlude 1]
[F][Am]
[C]
[Am]

[Verse 38]
Fire [Dm]moves [Am]away
Fire moves [G]away, [F]son
Why would you say
[Am]That I was [F]the last one
[Am]Last one
[F]Clear the room There's a fire, a

[Verse 39]
[Am]fire, a fire
[F]Get going, and I'm going
to be right [Am]be hind you
[F]And if the love of a woman or [Am]two,
dear
[G]Could[F]n't move you to such heights,
then [Am]all I can do
Is [F]do, my darling, right by you