These chords and lyrics are for the studio version of the song.
For the most part, the strumming goes: Base note, Bass note, Down Strum (with some minor variations).
All chords are played in open position, except for F, which is played in a barred E shape.
Intro
Am F Am F Em
Am
Little birds born without a mother or a father
Am
I can feel their feathers forming in the running water
G
Now there is another in the middle of my mouth
Em
A hundred altogether inside of me now
Am
Little birds, little birds, come into my body
Am
Mother, they're within me every moment I'm awaking
Am
Bodies multiplying until they finally overtake me
G
Put your ears up to my mouth and you can hear them singing
Em
Put you hands within me and you'll know what I am feeling
Am
I just want to swallow up and promise to protect them
Am
Daddy, come towards me, I can see his hands are shaking
Am
Put his hands against me, he could see their bodies breaking
G
Push me to the floor and put his hands up for a beating
Em
"I don't want to hear it anymore," he kept repeating
Am F Am F Em
Do you really want the burning hell to come and get you?
Am
Did you see the burning hell it took your baby brother?
Am
Did you see how far he fell and how he made us suffer?
G
Another boy in town at night he took him for his lover
Em
And deep in sin they held each other
Am
So I took a hammer, nearly beat his little brains in
Am
Knowing God in heaven no could never could forgive him
Am G Em
So I took a hammer nearly beat his little brains in
Am
Little boy born without a mother or a father
Am
Taken to the river and then pushed into the water
G Em
And the priests are singing that the hell was getting hotter
Am
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the only one to save him
Am
From the thing he loves the most but we know will betray him
Am G Em
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the only one to save him
Am G
And here beneath the water I can see
Em Am
How the light distorts so strange
Am G Em
And this is how I would like to leave my body
Am
And start again
Outro:
Am G Em Am
