OCCIDENT
Am Em F C
Mercy me, the night is long.
Am F Eb Bb C
Take my pen, to write you this song.
Dm G Bb C
Lord: is it harder to carry on,
Bb C
or to know when you are done?
Am Em F C
All my life, I've felt as though
Am F Eb Bb C Dm
I'm inside a beautiful memory,
G
Replaying
Bb C Bb F
with the sound turned down low.
C F G C
Long-life, show your face.
Em Am Bb C
Slow-heart, curb your taste.
C F G C
Smoke me out of my hiding place.
Em Am Bb C
Long-life, state your case.
Am Em F C
What in the world are we waiting for—
Am F Eb Bb C
building glowing cities along the shore,
Dm G
where the wind batters in,
Bb C Bb Bb
baiting my kin like a matador?
Am Em F C
So much value, placed upon
Am F Eb Bb C
what lies just beyond our plans:
Dm G
waving my handkerchief,
Bb C Bb C
running along, till the end of the sand.
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/j/joanna_newsom/occident_crd.html ]
C F G C
Long-life, speak your name.
Em Am Bb C
I'm so tired of the guessing game.
C F
But, something is moving,
G C
just out of frame:
Em Am
Slow-heart,
Bb C
brace and aim.
Am Em F C
Breaching slowly, across the sea,
Am F
one mast—
Eb Bb C
a flash, like the stinger of a bee—
Dm G
to take you away,
Bb C Bb C
a swarming fleet is gonna take you
from me.
Am Em F C
The universe is getting loose:
Am F Eb
sodden spread,
Bb C
from some leaden disuse,
Dm G
rushing, unhinged,
Bb C
toward diminishing lights,
Bb C
like a headless caboose.
C F
I'll wait for you,
G C
alongside the ocean,
Em Am
and make do
Bb C
with my no-skin.
C F
But then, Long-life,
G C
will you let me in?
Em Am
And then, Slow-heart,
Bb C
are you gonna know him?
C F G C
Long-life, speak your name.
Em Am Bb C
I wait, while I decry the wait.
C F G C
And when I die, may I relate:
Em Am Bb C
Slow heart, congregate.
Am, Em, F, C
Am, F, Eb, Bb, C
Dm, G, Bb, C
Bb C
Am Em F C
To leave your home, and your family,
Am F Eb Bb C
for some distortion of property?
Dm G
Well, darling, I can't go.
Bb C
But you may stay
Bb C
here, with me.
Am
