Stranger With The Melodies

INTRO:
 D   D/G  D/E  D/A
 D   D/G  D/E  D/A

           D
 It was my first night in that 
roomin` house,
        D/G
 in the last room down the hall.
           D/E
 I heard a hoarse voice, and an old 
guitar,
 D/A
 comin` through the paper thin 
walls.
 D
   A crazy nonsense nursery rhyme,
    D/G
 it did not mean a thing.
             D/E
 But for the first of what was to be
 a thousand times,
 D/A
 this is what I heard him sing.

                 D
      Hold that "D" chord on the old
 guitar,
      D/G
          `till I find the "G."
              D/E
      Drop it down to old "E" minor,
                 D/A               
      `till the "A" chord rolls 
                  D      D/A
back home around to "D."


   D                              
 I had to lay there listening, it 
D/G
seemed he was in the room.
     D/E                         
 The stranger with the melodies, 
D/A
singin` there in the gloom.
        Bm                       
 And he repeated it over and over 
               F
again, such a soft and sinking 
sound.
        Am                      
 It was kind of like a music box 
          Em
that was slowly windin` down.
        F                         
 And he sang it, he hummed it, he 
Em
whistled it, and he strummed it.
    G                              
 He laughed it, and he cried it.  
      A                       A   
He did anything but hide it.
A7  A6


      A          D
      Hold that "D" chord on the old
 guitar,
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      D/G
          `till I find the "G."
              D/E
      Drop it down to old "E" minor,
                 D/A               
      `till the "A" chord rolls 
                 D      D/A
back home around to me.


      D                            
 So I lay there in that lumpy bed, 
        D/G
counted Choruses instead of sheep,
         D/E                       
 `till I banged on the wall and out
                D/A
 I called, "Hey bub, I need some 
sleep."
  D   stop pattern, just base       
 G
    A sudden void of silence, then I
 heard that hoarse voice say,
  E                              A  
             D  resume pattern  D/A
   "It weren`t so long ago, boy, 
they paid me to play.
      D                            
 So I said, "It`s kind of late for 
                 D/G
music, sir.  Two hours `till it`s 
daylight."
    D/E                            
 He answered, "I need my music most
          D/A
 in these dark hours of the night.
              Bm                   
 You see I`ve tried gettin` high on
                    F
 somethin`, son; it only brings me 
down.
         Am                        
 Stayin` dry don`t work out better,
                Em
 boy, `cause my eyes get wet and I 
drown.
           F                       
 Won`t you please let me continue, 
    Em
and I`ll be in your debt.
             G             
 You see I`m not singin` to 
                          A        
remember, son.  I`m just   singin` 
    A      A7  A6
to forget.

      A          D
      Hold that "D" chord on the old
 guitar,
      D/G
          `till I find the "G."
              D/E
      Drop it down to old "E" minor,
                 D/A                
                D   D strum  D strum
  A
      `till the "A" chord rolls back
 home around to me.


               C                   
 That`s when I said, if I`m 
     G
supposed to listen to you, sir,
 C                   G
 one quick question, then.
 F                      C      
 Why in the hell do you sing one 
        A
song, over and over again?

  spoken  And this is what he said.

 D   D   D                       
           I gave her the music, 
      D/G
son.  She gave me the words.
   D/E                           
 Together we`d write the kinds of 
           D/A
songs the angels must have heard.
    D                              
 Of course, we`d fight like cats 
        D/G
and dogs; life ain`t no rosebud 
dream.
              D/E          
 Still, where ever we`d go, 
                           D/A
everybody`d know, we were truly a 
team.
           D                     
 I can`t remember now if I`d done 
                  D/G
her wrong, or if she`d done wrong to
 me.
        D/E                        
 Still, all I know is when I let 
         D/A
her go, it did not set me free.
               Bm
 That`s when I said, "You sound like
 what`s-his-name."
    F
 He said, "That`s who I am.
         Am
 But you can`t wrap a name around 
you boy,
           Em
 `cause it really don`t mean a damn.
            F                 
 You see, a song don`t have no 
                  Em
meanin`, when it don`t have nothin` 
to say.
      G                            
 What she could do was magic, son. 
     A           A    A7  A6   A
 All I can do is play.
            D
 He started singin` again, that`s 
when I drifted off,
     D/G
 and maybe I`d dreamed what I`d 
heard,
           D/E
 about the stranger with the 
melodies,
       D/A
 who`d gone and lost the words.

                 D
      Hold that "D" chord on the old
 guitar,
      D/G
          `till I find the "G."
              D/E
      Drop it down to old "E" minor,
                 D/A               
      `till the "A" chord rolls 
                  D      D final
back home around to "D."