Dm  Dm  Dm  Dm  Am  Dm

[Verse 1]
         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 tillin' in the ground
     G                              Bb  Am    Dm
My mother was a neighbor, she'd go visiting around

        C
But I didn't care
                                  Dm
For I had found the answer to a plowboys lonely prayer
 C            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          Am       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   Fmaj7    Am  D
And there she'd stand a crying in the dawn as I was leaving

[Chorus]
     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
And what a thing to do to your daughter

Dm Am Dm

[Verse 2]
               F                         C
One day with father on his tractor and mother off again
  G                        Bb
I go to find the Mayor to work out what I can
       F                        C
But he is not at his office, he is not at his home
        G                          Bb    Am   Dm
When I find him in the countryside he is not alone

       Dm                   C
He's holding a woman and imagine my surprise
        Em                              Am               F
As she jumps back from his arms I look into my mother's eyes

The Mayor of Candor Lied!

Dm Am Dm

 F                                C
All my thoughts of outrage, embarrassment and pain
       G                               Bb
Were washed away but what then went roaring through my brain
      F                        C
The Mayor's at my mercy and I hear my own voice say
      G                      Bb  Am    Dm
Your run for re-election is one month away
         Dm                                 C
And the world will never know of what I've seen here Sir
     Em                                Am      F   Fmaj7   Am  D
But I'll be with your daughter is my meaning clear Sir?

[Chorus]
     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
And what a thing to do to your daughter

     F                                C
My mother looks in horror at this compromise we made
          G                              Bb
But the Mayor's rueful smile says this piper must be paid
          F                               C
I had a month of joy in heaven from this deal I'd made in Hell
               G                        Bb         Am   Dm
What was to happen then my friend a prophet could not tell


Dm/C  Dm/Bb  Am
Dm  Dm/C   Dm/Bb Am
Dm   Dm/C   Dm/Bb Am
Dm

[Verse 3]
    Dm                                        Am/C      C
The day after his re-election and the victory celebration
     Em                          Am               Dsus4   Dm
The Mayor takes his family on a month long foreign vacation

     Dm                         C
Oh Coleen, you know how much I love you
 Em                  Am          F          F  C/E
There is no one I'd ever place above you
     Dm                     C
Oh Colleen, you don't even know me
    Em                              Am   F    C/E
To have you there's nothing that's below me
 Dm
(but time)
     F                        C
But time always passes after all
            Em             Em/D                Am            F
And as the Summer follows Spring, so does the Winter follow Fall

Dm  Am  Dm
Dm  Am  Dm

[Verse 4]
     F                                 C
The day that they returned, I stand waiting in 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    Am     Dm
The Mayor says that she has stayed, the decision is her own

                 Dm                             C
He says she's finishing her schooling on that unseen foreign shore
          Em                          Am        F          Fmaj7
And I'll tell you very frankly boy, you'll not see her any more

[Chorus]
     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
And what a thing to do to your daughter

Dm  Am  Dm

[Verse 4]
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
Go on and do your damndest, throw your mother to the streets
     G                               Bb    Am    Dm
You know it's been too many years I had to be discreet

    Dm                                    C
And as he stands there saying we're just two of a kind
    G                             Bb    Am     Dm
It hits me like a thunderbolt exploding in my mind

Dm
As I look into his leering  aged wrinkled  mirror of my own face
Em
He laughs and sneers and says - of course dear son
                                               Dm
Where do you think you came from in the first place?



[Chorus]
     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
And what a thing to do to your daughter