Intro Dm
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D|-0----- x3 -0--0-2
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F C
In the little town of Candor, in the last year of my youth,
G Bb
I learned the final lesson of the levels to the truth.
F C
My father was a farmer he'd go tilling in the ground.
G Bb Dm
My mother was a neighbor she'd go visiting around.
C
But I didn't care,
C Dm C
For I had found the answer to a plowboy's lonely prayer.
Am Dm
She was the daughter of the Mayor.
F C
The Mayor fought my courtship, for he'd made other plans,
G Bb
He saw her married to a better man than a boy with farmer's hands.
F C
I said -- I hate your father, it's so hard not to strike him.
G Bb Dm
She said --You know I love you because you're so much like him.
Dm C
And so I'd go sneaking in the evening,
Em Am F
And there she'd stand a crying in the dawn as I was leaving.
Dm
But the Mayor of Candor lied,
G
When he offered me his only daughter.
Dm
The Mayor of Candor tried,
G
To take her off across the water.
Bb G
What a thing to do to a young man in love.
Bb Dm
What a thing to do to your daughter.
Repeat intro
F C
One day with father on his tractor and mother off again,
G Bb
I go to find the mayor and work out what I can.
F C
But he is not at his office, he is not at his home,
G Bb Dm
When I find him in the countryside he is not alone.
Dm C
He is holding a woman and imagine my surprise,
Em Am F
As she jumps back from his arms I look into my mother's eyes!
Dm
The mayor of Candor lied
Dm G
F C
All my thoughts of outrage, embarrassment and pain,
G Bb
Were washed away by what came roaring through my brain.
F C
The Mayor's at my mercy and I hear my own voice say,
Bb Dm
Your run for re-election, sir, is just one month away.
Dm C
And the world will never know of what I've seen here sir,
Em Am F
But I'll be with your daughter is my meaning clear, sir?
Dm
The Mayor of Candor lied,
G
When he offered me his only daughter.
Dm
The Mayor of Candor tried,
G
To take her off across the water.
Bb G
What a thing to do to a young man in love.
Bb Dm
What a thing to do to your daughter.
Repeat intro
F C
My mother looks in horror at the compromise we made,
G Bb
But the Mayor's rueful smile says the piper must be paid!
F C
I had a month of joy in heaven from this deal I'd made in hell.
G Bb Dm
What was to happen then my friend a prophet could not tell.
Dm C G
The day after his re-election and the victory celebration,
Dm
The Mayor takes his family on a month long foreign vacation.
Dm C
Oh Sarah, you know how much I love you.
Em Am
There is no one I'd ever place above you.
Dm C
Oh Sarah, you don't even know me.
Em Am F
To have you there's nothing that's below me.
Dm
The Mayor of Candor lied,
G
When he offered me his only daughter.
Dm
The Mayor of Candor tried,
G
To take her off across the water.
Bb G
What a thing to do to a young man in love.
Bb Dm
What a thing to do to your daughter.
Repeat intro
F C
The day that they return I stand waiting on the road.
G Bb
I watch the car drive up, I watch the passengers unload.
F C
Of course she isn't there. Of course, I should have known.
G Bb Dm
The Mayor says that she is staying. The decision is her own.
Dm C
He said "She's finishing her schooling on that unseen foreign shore.
Em Am F
And I'll tell you very frankly, boy, you'll not see her anymore!
Dm
The Mayor of Candor lied,
G
When he offered me his only daughter.
Dm
The Mayor of Candor tried,
G
To take her off across the water.
Bb G
What a thing to do to a young man in love.
Bb Dm
What a thing to do to your daughter.
Repeat intro
F C
I spit out my hatred and my fury at his lies,
G Bb
When he says you tried to blackmail me you're just as bad as I!
F C
He says -- Go on and do your damndest boy, throw your mother to the streets!
G Bb Dm
You know it's been too many years I had to be discreet.
F C
And as he stands there saying we're just two of a kind,
G Bb
It hits me like a thunderbolt exploding in my mind.
F C
As I look into his aged, wrinkled, mirror of my own face,
G Bb
He laughs and sneers and says, Of course, dear son,
Where do you think you came from in the first place?
Dm
The Mayor of Candor lied,
G
When he offered me his only daughter.
Dm
The Mayor of Candor tried,
G
To take her off across the water.
Bb G
What a thing to do to a young man in love.
Bb Dm
What a thing to do to your daughter.
