Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle - By the Time That I Awoke
From album 'Perils from the Sea'
4x Gm A# D# D#
Gm A# D#
I like the powder blue dresses
Gm
The stewardesses wear on Korean Air.
A# D#
The skin's divine and their bodies so fine.
Gm
They're all the same height and they have the same waistline.
A# D#
But there is one who stood apart
Gm
Her name-tag read "J.H. Park."
A# D#
She had a white watch and a muted spark,
F
And I thought about her when the night grew dark
Gm D#
And my hotel room in Tokyo,
F
And by the time that I awoke,
Gm D#
My guitar was broken and in need of repair.
F
Thanks for the hassles, Korean Air.
Gm D#
But I hurled myself through one last show
F
And I made a few friends, Shoko and Koko.
Gm D#
Walked them down to the train station below,
Hugged them goodbye and as I walked back I...
Gm A# D#
Remembered a girl who I had lost.
Gm
She grew up in a cardboard box
A# D#
In a town called Dharma.
Gm
She shook my spirit and she rattled my thoughts.
A# D#
But I had some love back home,
Gm
So I never pursued it or called her telephone number.
A# D#
I wonder if she knew that I had reason,
F
I wonder if she thought that I had used her.
Gm D#
And by the time that I awoke,
Around my neck I felt fingers choke.
F Gm D#
I felt a jolt of an electrical sting,
F
I felt the pull of an invisible string.
Gm D#
Is it my future falling?
Or is it the past still calling?
F Gm D#
I can't remember and you can't make me remember
Anything that hurts or makes me shiver.
A# D# Gm
I can't remember and you can't make me remember
F
My dirty reflection shimmering in the rain.
A# D# Gm
I can't remember and you can't make me remember
F
Old forgotten blues when we opened my house.
A# D# Gm F
I can't remember and you can't make me remember.
A# D# Gm F
I can't remember and you can't make me remember.
2# Gm F A# A#
Gm A# D#
Was five years old the last time I slept
Gm
A quiet night before the loudness crept.
A# D#
I wrote poetry throughout my teens,
Gm
And I far exceeded my childhood dreams.
A# D#
Teachers told me I couldn't write,
Gm
That I'd never make a living or touch anyone's life.
A# D#
People told me I couldn't sing,
F
That I wouldn't amount to much of anything.
Gm D#
And by the time that I awoke,
I was 25 years old and crossing an oceans,
F Gm D#
Working hard to develop my sound
F
Going city to city, covering ground.
Gm D#
And by the time that I had awoke
F
I was one of a handful of the chosen
Gm D#
To take the punches to take the arrows
To bleed the blood, the blood of sweat.
A# D# Gm
I can't remember and you can't make me remember
F
Any hurtful words that I endured.
A# D# Gm
I can't remember and you can't make me remember
F
When I was a lost flockless bird.
A# D# Gm
I can't remember and you can't make me remember
F
When I couldn't trap bumblebees.
A# D# Gm
I can't remember and you can't make me remember
F Gm F A# A# Gm F A# A#
Why in a crowd I am so lonely.
Gm A# D#
I met the most beautiful lover,
Gm
Walking along the San Francisco Bay.
A# D#
She guides me through the perils,
Gm
Through the long, unlit hallways.
A# D#
Below the surface, beneath the distractions
Beneath my dumb, knee-jerk reactions.
Gm A# D#
It's to her I owe everything,
It is for her that my heart sings.
Gm A# D#
And by the time that I awoke
Gm
the fingers loosened on their choke
A# D#
And by the time that I awoke.
By: TheTristo
thetristo.tumblr.com
