-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John K. Samson
WINTER WHEAT
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John K. Samson’s second solo album
Release date: October 21, 2016
-- Track listing –-
1. Select All Delete
2. Postdoc Blues
3. Winter Wheat
4. Requests
5. Oldest Oak at Brookside
6. Capital
7. 17th Street Treatment Centre
8. Vampire Alberta Blues
9. Carrie Ends the Call
10. Fellow Traveller
11. Quiz Night at Looky Lou's
12. Alpha Adept
13. Prayer for Ruby Elm
14. VPW 13 Blues
15. Virtute at Rest
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Track 1 – Select All Delete
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intro + Verse Chorus
------------- ---------
Am x0221x G 32003x
F x3321x F 13321x
C x3201x C x3201x
Capo 1st fret
[Intro]
Am F C
Am F C
[Verse 1]
Am F C
That hashtag wants me dead, but I don’t mind
Am F C
It’s just another way we grieve
Am F C
For all the times we fail to be the ones
Am F C
We thought we had the chance to be
[Chorus 1]
G F
And when it gets too complicated
G F
When you can’t get to sleep
C F
When the morning seems impossible
C F
Select all delete (ooh-ooh)
C F
Select all delete (ooh-ooh)
C Am F C
Select all delete
Am F C
[Verse 2]
Am F C
And I don’t mean to miss the good old days
Am F C
The good old days were mostly bad
Am F C
But I recall how dark the night got then
Am F C
How absences could make me glad
[Chorus 2]
G F
So when it’s too illuminated
G F
Too loud and indiscreet
C F
When it gets you stoned or gets you strange
C F
Select all delete (ooh-ooh)
C F
Select all delete (ooh-ooh)
C Am F C
Select all delete
[Outro]
Am F C
Am F C
Am F C
Am F C
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Track 2 – Postdoc Blues
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intro + Verse Chorus
------------- ---------
Em 02200x A x0222x
G 32000x C x3203x
C x3201x G 32000x
D xx023x
Capo 3rd fret
[Intro]
Em G C
Em G C
e|-----------------------------|
B|-----------------------------|
G|-----------------------------|
D|---2----0--------------------| x2
A|-----------2----0----0h2-----|
E|-------------------3-----0---|
[Verse 1]
Em G C
So your presentation went terrible
Em G C
All wrong dongle, sweat stains and stares
Em G C
Leave the TV on with the sound down low
Em G C
In your underwear
[Chorus 1]
A C
Don't despair, you'll get it right
G D
Tomorrow night in Thunder Bay maybe
A C
Don't delay, your day is short
G D
You can't afford to wait
[Verse 2]
Em G C
I believe in you and your PowerPoints
Em G C
I know why you can't stay awake
Em G C
Out on Highway One with a rental car
Em G C
And a lot to say
[Chorus 2]
A C
Don't despair, you'll get it right
G D
Tomorrow night in Nipigon, maybe
A C
Don't delay, our day is short
G D
We can't afford to wait
Em G C
[Outro]
D Am C G
So take that laminate out of your wallet and read it
D Am C G
And recommit yourself to the healing of the world
D Am C G
And to the welfare of all creatures upon it
D Am C Em G C
Pursue a practice that will strengthen your heart
Em G C
Em
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Track 3 – Winter Wheat
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verse + Bridge Refrain
-------------- -------------
G 3x00xx G 3x00xx
C x320xx G/F# 2x00xx
Em 0x20xx Em 0x20xx
D/F# 2x02xx Asus2 5x20xx
Asus2 5x20xx
C/B x2x01x
Am7 x0x01x
Capo 7th fret
[Verse 1]
G
Woke up in a parking lot
C
Air-mattresses gone flat
Em D/F# G C
The sun selecting targets for the shadows to attack
G
So make a visor with your hand
C
And squint at where you're from
Em D/F# G Asus2
A lonely line of buildings you can block out with your thumb
[Refrain 1]
G G/F# G G/F# Em
Salute the ways
Asus2 G G/F#
We tried
C C/B Am7 C/B
C C/B Am7 G
[Verse 2]
G
And no one knows we're anywhere
C
We're not supposed to be
Em D/F# G C
So stay a while and watch the wind throw patterns on a field
G
This crop withstood the months of snow
C
The scavengers and blight
Em D/F# G Asus2
Tuned every ear towards a tiny lengthening of light
[Refrain 2]
G D/F# G D/F# Em
And found a way
Asus2 G D/F#
To rise
C C/B Am7 C/B
C C/B Am7 G
[Bridge]
Em D/F# G C
We know this world is good enough
Em D/F# G C
Because it has to be
Em D/F# G C
Allow the hope that we will meet
C G
Again out in the winter wheat
[Interlude]
Em D/F# G C
Em D/F# G C
Em D/F# G C
C G
Find me in the winter wheat
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Track 4 – Requests
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Intro + Verse Chorus
------------- ------------
E 022100 F#m7 24222x
A x0222x B x2444x
E/G# 4224xx E 022100
A x0222x
Capo 3rd fret
Riff 1:
e|-----------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
B|--5--4--4--2--2--0--0--------------------|--5--4--4--2--2--0--0-----------------|
G|-----------------------1--1--2--1--2/4~--|-----------------------1--1--2--1—1~--|
D|-----------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
A|-----------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
E|-----------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
Riff 2:
e|-----------------------------------|
B|-----------------------------------|
G|--1---1---1-2--1-----1--2--1--2/4~-|
D|-----------------------------------|
A|-----------------------------------|
E|-----------------------------------|
[Intro]
- Riff 1 -
E A E/G#
E A E/G#
[Verse 1]
E A E/G#
I want you to know what I forgive you for
E A E/G#
Now that you're all ashes anyway
E A E/G#
Every step into the river pushes you further away
- Riff 2 -
[Verse 2]
E A E/G#
I want you to hear the farm apologize
E A E/G#
For letting you believe you could return
E A E/G#
I want you to dream in all the languages we couldn't learn
- Riff 2 -
[Chorus 1]
F#m7 B E A
I want you to write my name under your name with the year
F#m7 B
I was born and you began to disappear
- Riff 1 -
[Verse 3]
E A E/G#
I want you to watch the generations sprawl
E A E/G#
Constellations in a northern sky
E A E/G#
I want every satellite to circle you when you arrive
- Riff 2 -
[Chorus 2]
F#m7 B E A
I want every highway sign to remember we were here
F#m7 B
I want you to take your time to disappear
- First part of Riff 1 -
[Interlude]
F#m7 B E A
F#m7 B
[Outro]
E A E/G#
I want you to know what I forgive you for
E A E/G#
Now that you're all ashes anyway
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Track 5 – Oldest Oak at Brookside
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verse + Chorus Interlude + Bridge
-------------- ------------------
A x0222x D x5777x
D5 xx023x E x7999x
Bm x2443x D/C# x4423x
E 02210x F#m x4422x
A 57765x
[Verse 1]
A D5
A D5
A D5
Before we built
A D5
That smirking airport
A D5
Before the phones
Bm E
Told us where to go
A D5
Before the strike
A D5
Before the streetcar
A D5
Before we read
Bm E
Comics on the radio
[Chorus 1]
A D5
Long before
A D5
We found a way
A D5 A
To gauge the coldest day
[Verse 2]
A D5
Before the flood
A D5
Before the treaty
A D5
Before we broke
Bm E
A promise to appear
A D5
Before we drew
A D5
The new team logo
A D5
Before the taste
Bm E
Of Malathion lingered here
[Chorus 2]
A D5
Way before
A D5
We skated down
A D5 D
The Eaton Place Parkade
[Interlude]
D E D/C# F#m
D E A
[Bridge]
D E D/C# F#m
Before we built that
D E A
Before the fire
D E D/C# F#m
You were lifted by a blue jay, beating wings above a sea
(Be-------------------fore the treaty)
D E A
With a wave of grazing bison and, tallgrass prairie
(Be---------------------fore we broke)
[Verse 3]
A D5
You were set
A D5
In sandy soil
A D5 A D5 A D5
And stand a mighty oak
A D5 A
Stand a mighty oak
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Track 6 – Capital
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Verse Bridge and Outro
----------- ----------------
C x3201x G 32000x
Em7 x2000x Am x0221x
Am x0221x C x32010
G 32000x F x33211
F 1332xx
Capo 4th fret
[Intro]
C Em7 Am G F F
e|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|-----0-----0-----0-----0-----0-----0-----0-----0-----0h2---2-----------------0h2---2--------------|
D|-----------------------------------------------------3-----3-----------------3-----3--------------|x2
A|-----------------------------------------------------3-----3-----3-----3-----3-----3-----3-----3--|
E|--8-----8-----7-----7-----5-----5-----3-----3-----1-----1-----1-----1-----1-----1-----1-----1-----|
[Verse 1]
C Em7 Am G F F
So when they wonder where the money went
C Em7 Am G F F
And we can't swim here anymore
C Em7 Am G F F
And bankers warble algorithmically
C Em7 Am G F F
From the shore
[Verse 2]
C Em7 Am G F F
The stations pump the new austerity
C Em7 Am G F F
The Ogal--lala Aquifer
C Em7 Am G F F
And crackling California reservoirs
C Em7 Am G F F
Making sure
[Bridge]
G Am C F
Priced out of that old neighbourhood for good
F
-- repeat intro riff --
[Verse 3]
C Em7 Am G F F
The payday lonely pray in parking lots
C Em7 Am G F F
A one bar Wi-Fi kind of town
C Em7 Am G F F
The pilot flares oppose another night
C Em7 Am G F F
Coming down
[Outro]
G Am C F
Coming down
F
C Em7 Am G F F
C Em7 Am G F F
C
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Track 7 – 17th Street Treatment Centre
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fmaj7 xx321x
C x3201x
G 32000x
C7 x323xx
Capo 10th fret
[Intro]
Fmaj7 C
e|--0---0-0--------------|
B|--1---1-1--1------1-0--|
G|--0h2------0------0-0--|
D|--3--------0h2---------|x3
A|-----------3-----------|
E|-----------------------|
Fmaj7 C
Fmaj7 C
Fmaj7 C
G C
[Verse 1]
C Fmaj7 C
On the twenty-first day, the sun didn't hate me
G
The food wasn't angry, the bed didn't sigh
C C7 Fmaj7 C
The ceiling said it's possible, I might get my looks back
G Fmaj7 C
On the twenty-first day of my stay here
Fmaj7 C
Fmaj7 C
Fmaj7 C
G C
[Verse 2]
C Fmaj7 C
On the twenty-first day, I danced to the twelve-step
G
Examined, admitted I'm powerless too
C C7 Fmaj7 C
Sang the one about the spring the cat ran away
G Fmaj7 C
On the twenty-first day of my court-ordered stay... here
[Outro]
G Fmaj7 C
The punk and the priest and the real estate agent
G Fmaj7 C
The girl with no teeth and the shaky Marine
G Fmaj7 C
The Serbian Deadhead who wears his sunglasses
G Fmaj7 C
“So no one can see at my eyes”
G Fmaj7 C
In for three weeks or in for forever
G Fmaj7 C
Here at the 17th Street Treatment Centre
G Fmaj7 C
Most of us probably not getting better
G Fmaj7 C
But not getting better toge----ther
Fmaj7 C
Fmaj7 C
Fmaj7 C
G C
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Track 8 – Vampire Alberta Blues
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Am x0221x
Em 02200x
G 32000x
D7 xx021x
Capo 4th fret
[Intro]
Am Em G D7
Am Em G D7
[Verse 1]
Am Em G D7
Oh the vampire Alberta, stalks across the money market rates and ducks into a Hummer
Am Em G D7
The vampire Alberta, wears a bowtie and a pin that says Support the Arts
Am Em G
Yeah the vampire Alberta, takes a photo for another slide
D7 Am Em G D7
In the PowerPoint of all the places we won't remember
Am Em G D7
[Verse 2]
Am Em G D7
Oh the vampire Alberta, wipes an oily mouth along a sleeve of forest in the foothills
Am Em G D7
The vampire Alberta, drools a perfect inky tailing pond and shakes awake
Am Em G
Yeah the vampire Alberta, lifts a nearly empty glass and pleads
D7 Am Em G D7
"I need another one of these, so keep 'em coming"
Am Em G D7
Good times are coming
[Outro]
Am Em G D7
Am Em G D7
Am Em G D7
Am Em G D7
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Track 9 – Carrie Ends the Call
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intro + Interlude Verse + Outro Bridge
------------------ ------------- ------------------
D x-x-0-x-10-10 D xx02xx D xx023xx
D/A x-0-x-11-10-x G xx00xx Em x220xxx
D/A x54xxx A5 x022xxx
D/G# 454xxx D x-x-0-x-10-10
D/G 354xxx D/A x-0-x-11-10-x
Capo 4th fret
[Intro]
D D/A
D D/A
D D/A
D D/A
[Verse 1]
D G D/A G D/G# D/G
D G D/A G D/G# D/G
D G D/A G
So long living in between
D/G# D/G
A tiny screen and a slightly larger screen
D G D/A G
The loneliest way to stay alone
D/G# D/G
D G D/A G
Your face frozen up in light
D/G# D/G
From milder climate and wilder times
D G D/A G
I can’t watch it glitching anymore
D/G# D/G
[Interlude]
D D/A
D D/A
D D/A
D D/A
[Verse 2]
D G D/A G
I know why you had to go
D/G# D/G
An ocean asked you to play another show
D G D/A G
The mountains arrange for you to run
D/G# D/G
D G D/A G
I knew you would do your best
D/G# D/G
In vacuum tubes where the feedbacks nest
D G D/A G
To make me smile
D/G# D/G
[Bridge]
D
But it seems impossible now
Em A5
From another December we will barely remember
D D/A
When summer arrives
D D/A
D D/A
D D/A
[Outro]
D G D/A G
D/G# D/G
D G D/A G
So long living in between
D/G# D/G
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Track 10 – Fellow Traveller
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verse Pre-Chorus Chorus Bridge Outro
---------- ---------- ------------ ---------- ------------
E 0221xx F# 244xxx A/C# x4222x F# 244xxx A x022xx
C# x466xx A x022xx B/D# x6444x G# 466xxx B x244xx
B x244xx E 0221xx E 02210x A x022xx G# 466xxx
A x022xx B x244xx A x0222x B x244xx B/D# x644xx
B x2444x E 0221xx
Capo 1st fret
[Verse 1]
E
Rain for the last day that I will be known
C# B A
The way that I want them to know me
E
Rain for reporters' predictable leads
C# B A
On the darkening stain of my name
[Pre-Chorus 1]
F# A E B
Rain like the morning you left with the international brigade
F# A E
A streak of your face at the glass when the train pulled away
[Chorus 1]
A/C# B/D# E A
The aspidistra that refused to die
A/C# B/D# E A
A miniature camera in a Cambridge tie
A B E A
To get that Soviet control to crack a smile
A B E
All in our file, my fellow traveller
E F# G# F# E F# G# F# F# F# A
e|-----------------|-----------------|---------------|-----------------|
B|-----------------|-----------------|---------------|-----------------|
G|-----------------|-----------------|---------------|-----------------|
D|--2---4---6-6-4--|--2---4---6-6-4--|--4-4---4-4-4--|--4/7-7---7-7-7--|x2
A|--2---4---6-6-4--|--2---4---6-6-4--|--4-4---4-4-4--|--4/7-7---7-7-7--|
E|--0---2---4-4-2--|--0---2---4-4-2--|--2-2---2-2-2--|--2/5-5---5-5-5--|
Ooh ooh ooh-ooh
[Verse 2]
E
Sleep for the telephone's silent receiver
C# B A
On its beetle-black back in the hall
E
Sleep for the bottle that rolled off my desk
C# B A
Danced itself out on the floor
[Pre-Chorus 2]
F# A E B
Sleep for the overturned ashtray splayed across an unmade bed
F# A E
While I interrogate every word that I ever said
[Chorus 2]
A/C# B/D# E A
I fall from buildings into angry air
A/C# B/D# E A
Lecture my students in my underwear
A B E A
But once I was allowed to dream of you instead
A B E
My dear defected fellow traveller
E F# G# F# E F# G# F# F# F# A
e|-----------------|-----------------|---------------|-----------------|
B|-----------------|-----------------|---------------|-----------------|
G|-----------------|-----------------|---------------|-----------------|
D|--2---4---6-6-4--|--2---4---6-6-4--|--4-4---4-4-4--|--4/7-7---7-7-7--|
A|--2---4---6-6-4--|--2---4---6-6-4--|--4-4---4-4-4--|--4/7-7---7-7-7--|
E|--0---2---4-4-2--|--0---2---4-4-2--|--2-2---2-2-2--|--2/5-5---5-5-5--|
Ooh ooh ooh-ooh
[Bridge]
F#
How you booked your final passage
G#
With a passport that you paid for with a pair of roller skates
A
How you dyed your hair and mustache
B
Put on a mid-Atlantic accent but you couldn't stop the shakes
F#
When they asked where you had come from
G#
And you muttered, "That's a good one"
A
Though you were never really certain
[Chorus 3]
A/C# B/D# E A
Every umbrella down on Portman Square
A/C# B/D# E A
Opens and closes to arraign our fair
A B E A
Theory of something I can't picture anymore
A B F# G#
A forgery for my fellow traveller
[Outro]
A B
I won't wait to see
G# B/D#
I still I believe in you and me
E
My fellow traveller
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Track 11 – Quiz Night at Looky Lou's
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- No chords in song --
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Track 12 – Alpha Adept
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intro Verse Chorus 1,2,3 Chorus 3
----------- ---------- ------------ -------------------
F#m 2442xx D x5777x Em 02200x B5 799xxx
D xx023x A 57765x G 35543x A5 577xxx
Em 02200x D x5777x E/G# 476xxx
G 35543x A 57765x
Capo 2nd fret
[Intro]
F#m D
F#m D
[Verse 1]
D A Em G
For now I know we are alone here
D A Em G
Still we should be prepared to leave
D A Em G
I found a place where I have hidden
D A Em G
Supplies and books and sleeping bags
[Chorus 1]
Em G D A G
And I'll sing in my prescriptions from our fort out in the forest near a stream
Em G D A G
And they'll place them in a tiny yellow sailboat and sail them to me
[Verse 2]
D A Em G
All I can say is I'm excited
D A Em G
All I can do is let you know
D A Em G
You are the one I wanna be with
D A Em G
When they return to claim the Earth
[Chorus 2]
Em G D A G
For a planet near Orion's Belt where everyone is happier and tall
Em G D A G
And they sing a billion stories with their minds while flying all around the sky
[Interlude]
D A Em G
D A Em G
[Chorus 3]
Em G D A B5 A5 E/G#
I have heard them singing each to each, and who's to say that they won't sing to me
Em G D A D
I'm not certain but I'm pretty sure they're gonna sing a song for you and me
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Track 13 – Prayer for Ruby Elm
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verse Chorus
--------- ------------
D xx023x Bm x2443x
G 3200xx D xx023x
A x0222x E 0221xx
A x022xx
A/D x002xx
A/C# x422xx
Capo 3rd fret
[Intro]
e|--2-----------|--2-----------|--2-----------|2-----------|
B|-----3-----3--|-----3-----3--|-----3-----3--|---3--------|
G|--------4-----|--------4-----|--------4-----|------4--2--|
D|--------------|--------------|--------------|------------|x4
A|--------------|--------------|--------------|------------|
E|--------------|--------------|--------------|------------|
D
[Verse 1]
D G
Oh may the roots reach beneath the sleeping street
D Asus4 A
Station in the riverbed, register what we won’t hear
D G
May the leaves puzzle out the canopy
D Asus4 A
Shake and photosynthesize everything we’re sorry for
[Chorus 1]
Bm D E
Into one long breath of air
A A/D A/C#
[Verse 2]
D G
May the ring of Tanglefoot and fibreglass
D Asus4 A
Guard against the thunderstorm, cankerworms and climate change
D G
May the bark rub away the powerline
D Asus4 A
Bandage over knots and burls, commemorate our injuries
[Chorus 2]
Bm D E
May the hy--dro worker’s blade
A A/D A/C#
Be swift and precise
[Verse 3]
D G
May the rope remember all the rhymes for knots
D Asus4 A
To lift me up and lay me down, bear the swinging weight of love
D G
May the birds answer carabiner clicks
D Asus4 A
Carry off the tiny seeds of better ways to be alive
[Chorus 3]
Bm D E
May it all seem plausible
A A/D A/C#
Wherever we land
D
May we grow
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Track 14 – VPW 13 Blues
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intro + Verse Outro
------------- ---------
D xx023x F 13321x
C x3201x C x3201x
G 32003x D xx0232
[Intro]
D D C
D D C
D D C
D D C
[Verse 1]
C D C
Back in those old punk-rock days
G D
Mornings were rough enough
C D C
Public Access volunteers
G D
We were always
G C
Always in between
D C
Micing up
D C
The Tec Voc choir
D C D G
And waiting for our turn to play
D D C
D D C
D D C
D D C
[Verse 2]
C D C
We were here to take your calls
G D
Every telethon
C D C
We were keeping jive alive
G D
At the Beausejour
G C
Senior Centre Dance
D C
Rolling down
D C
The driver’s side
D C D G
Toss an ember to the night
[Outro]
F C
We end this broadcast day
D
We knew that it was coming
F C
We end this broadcast day
D
Keep the camera running
F C D
On the last time (we end this broadcast day} oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
F C D
On the last time (we end this broadcast day} oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
F C D
On the last time (we end this broadcast day} oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
F C D
F C D
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Track 15 – Virtute at Rest
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intro Verse Outro
----------- ------------- ---------
A x0222x D xx0232 D xx0232
E 0x210x A x0222x A x0222x
D/A x0023x F#m x442xx E 0x210x
Eadd9 x241xx
Capo 4th fret
[Intro]
A E D
[Verse 1]
D A
Now that the treatment
D A
And anti-depressants
D A
And seven months sober
F#m Eadd9
Have built me a bed
[Verse 2]
D A
In the back of your brain
D A
Where the memories flicker
D A
And I paw at the synapses
F#m Eadd9
Bright bits of string
[Verse 3]
D A
You should know I am with you
D A
Know I forgive you
D A
Know I am proud of the
F#m Eadd9
Steps that you’ve made
[Verse 4]
D A
Know it will never
D A
Be easy or simple
D A
Know I will dig in
F#m Eadd9
My claws when you stray
[Outro]
D A
So let us rest here, like we used to
A E D
In a line of late-afternoon sun
D A
Let it rest, all you can’t change
A E A
Let it rest and be done
