[Intro]
Bb
So long
Bb
So long
Bb
So long
Bb
So long
[Verse]
Bb
So long
Ab F# Bbm
My old friend died that way:
Eb Ab F# Bbm Eb
The accumulation of time and the passing of days
Ab F#
Though she dug in her heels
Bbm Eb
Drug her wheels in the clay
[Pre-Chorus]
Ab C
She dotted her eyes;
Gm Fm
Crossed the teasels in her leaning dray
[Chorus]
Eb G
Where buzzards make circles
Bb D
(and tillers make hay):
Eb G Bb D
A dozen in kettle, comittee & wake;
Eb G
Where wind made the dust
Bb D
And sin made the snake
F C
And mama made us
Am G
But what did I make?
[Verse]
F
And how was I to know
G Am
Down in our old goldmine
G F
Where you were the king of the radio
G C
And I was the keeper of hi-fi
G F
And I was the queen of the rodeo
(And everybody'd know,)
G Am
And you were the keeper of the lions;
F
And we were gored, and abased
And adored, and erased
C
All before our time?
F G Am
It was before our time
G Am G
So how was I to know?
Bb A
How was I to know
Eb
While tune hums
Dm Gm
And the hand strikes the gong
A
And all of us plough our row
Eb
And the notes run
Dm Gm
Out of measure and out of time and landing wrong?
Bb F Am Bb
The day is long, but not so long
Ab F# Bbm
My old friend died alone
Eb Ab F# Bbm
Save for the friends and family she had known
Eb Ab
Surrounding her bed
F# Bbm
None of whom in that room
Eb
Could with certainty have said
[Pre-Chorus]
Ab C
“I've dotted my eyes
Gm Fm
Crossed the teasels in my leaning sled
[Chorus]
Eb G Bb D
Where buzzards make circles and tillers make hay:
Eb G
In windrow and bale
Bb D
With tedder and rake;
Eb G
Where Adam made ribs
Bb D
And cattle make steak.”
F C
(And the rattling nib writes
Am G
“What did I make?”)
[Verse]
F
And how was I to know
G Am
Seeing my seconds pass in a line
G F
If there was a way to reckon love
G C
Except as a symptom of time?
G F
And honey, it stretched out below us
Humming every note
G Am
From the lowest to the highest
G F
But even at the highest we were bored, and amazed
In accord, in a daze
C
All before our time
G F G Am
It was before our time
G F G Am
So how was I to know?
G F G Am
How was I to know
G F G Am
How was I to know
G F A
How was I to know
Eb
While the day slows
Dm Gm
And the sun stares, stalling
A Eb
Into the dimming barrel of night
Dm Gm
Where the stars are falling?
[Outro]
Bb F
I've got no say
Am
But still
Bb F#
I'm calling for my old friend
Ab Eb Bbm
We sow and we reap, again
