Elbows

G  C  G  Em  Em

           G                    C 
On a warm night in March on a dark
      G
 disco floor
      Em
I danced up a storm like I’d never 
before
            C                   D 
Every step in the book and then 
         G
some that weren’t listed
Am                             
For a song or two I felt nothing 
          Em             D
else existed

G                                 
Now if a dream curled at your feet
      C       G
 you’d take it home and name it
          Em
I’m struggling now to find something
 to blame it on
C              D                  
Strobing effects or perhaps it was 
G
that dress
Am                         
But my eye was captured by a 
             Em              D
beautiful actress

                G               C 
Now the minutiae’s still my memory
              G
 writ large
Em
As she danced nearer me with her coy
 entourage
C                       D        
She tugged at the scarf round her
               G
 neck it came loose
Am                              
She flung it and hung it from the 
   C            G               G
disc jockey’s booth

      C         D         Em     
But before I continue one moments
   C
 reprieve
C                                 
I grant you dear audience a chance
      G
 to leave
        C          D           Em
For my tale never ends in that it
         C
 never started
C                                 
When the house lights came on I’d 
      D
already departed

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G                              
No not one word was spoken nor a 
    C    G
glance exchanged
        Em
When the sun rose next morning the 
world hadn’t changed
        C               D         
See we only touched elbows is the 
  G
plain naked truth
Am                            C  
And I can’t even back up my story
        G                      G
 with proof

Gm                             
We only touched elbows, felt our 
   C             G
bones clunk together
Em
Then the moment was over in a 
falling feather
C             D         G
An accident sure but it happened 
I’ll wrangle
Am                             
Our elbows did touch our arms at 
         Em      Em   Em  D
right angles

                G           
Now there’s naught the nosey 
            C       G
observer could’ve guessed
 Em
But the rock and roll drummer inside
 of my chest
C                       D        
Everyone’s seen her films and 
                G
I’ll whisper her name
        Am                      C 
That we only touched elbows is not
          G
 such a shame

         C              D         
For the world’s getting crowded 
      Em        C
and I can’t see a lapse
C                                 
It’s not about leaving spaces but 
              G
filling the gaps
            C          D     
We’re all bumping and knocking 
        Em         C
strangers all the time
C                                 
Sometimes we don’t notice, mostly 
          D
we don’t mind

G                              C 
A foot brushes your ankle on a 
       G
peak hour bus
         Em
Someone’s hand on the small of your 
back as they pass
C            D             G
A shopkeepers fingers while handing 
you change
 Am                            
Can lightly brush yours without 
               Em                  
feeling too strange
 D


            G                  
But why I felt so alive I can’t 
 C       G
quite determine
Em
There could be a word to explain it 
in German
      C         D         G
Some take others home waking up to 
regret it
Am                            
We only touched elbows and I’ll 
                  Em
never forget it

D   G   C        G
C    G   Em    Em
C    D    G
Am   Am    Em     D
G   C  G   Em  Em
C   D  G   Am
Em  Em

        G                   C     
Now the innocent DJ still spins 
      G
his black moons
Em                             
And keeps us all moving with his 
                 Em
faithful tunes
C              D                 
And the lights nod in synch, 
       G
they’re mechanically powered
Am                            C  
We only touched elbows and I 
             G
still haven’t