This is how I play the song:
(Corrections or suggestions welcome!)
Intro: C
F Am C F Am C
As I swan dive into the estuary, the birds do not flinch at my fall
F G Am C F Dm C
They perch in the rafters, before, during, after: They do not notice me at all
F Am C F Am C
As I float down into the estuary, wind cases my body in cool
F G Am C F Dm C
I smell petrol fumes, see the smoke rise in plumes: The earth is one big fireball
F Dm C
The earth is one big fireball
G C
Anecdote, lie
G C
My own alibi
F G C
I've been telling jokes
G C
Piled notes high
G C
My own alibi
F G C
I've been selling rope
F Am C F Am C
As I break the film of the estuary, the seaweed submerges my form
F G Am C F Dm C
No passing cars stop, not a single jaw drops, as my wallet and keys sink before
F Dm C
A splash all I left in the world
G C
Anecdote, lie
G C
My own alibi
F G C
I've been telling jokes
G C
Piled notes high
G C
My own alibi
F G C
I've been selling rope
F G Am C F Dm C
Once held a magpie in the palm of my hand and the blood in our veins flowed faster, as I'd planned
F G Am C F Dm C
Got a heart full of love and a head full of more but a fist full of threads from the seams
F Dm C
And I saw a smile in that beak
G C
Anecdote, lie
G C
My own alibi
F G C
I've been telling jokes
G C
Piled notes high
G C
My own alibi
F G C
I've been selling rope
F G Am C
Oh I was a bird right then, one day I will be again
F Dm C
I've been telling jokes while selling rope to you
F G Am C
Oh I was a bird right then, one day I will be again
F Dm C
I've been telling jokes while selling rope to you
(at 3:59) C Am x5
(at 4:53) Dm C x4
F G Am C
Oh I was a bird right then, one day I will be again
F Dm C
I've been telling jokes while selling rope to you
F G Am C
Oh I was a bird right then, one day I will be again
F Dm C
I've been telling jokes while selling rope to you
F G
There's no ticker-tape, no pearly gates
Am C
No carnival and no parade
F Dm C
Just one, one for sorrow
F G
There's no ticker-tape, no pearly gates
Am C
No carnival and no parade
F Dm C
Just one, one for sorrow
