G#m D#m
Ada, my rarest bud from the desert valley
C#
Your hair of fire and skin of snow
G#m
Have coursed me to the heights of the desert mountains
D#m
In search of the cure for a rampant fever
C#
Your beauty is power, it plagues me now
D#m
I come and scour the land for the desert flower
[Pre-Chorus 1]
G#m E G#m F#
For beauty and perfume I'd stake my house and my lands
G#m E G#m F#
The gold is sleeping in the river but the flower's in my hand
G#m E G#m F#
With a paler leaf and a broken petal, I'll paint the king and queen
G#m E G#m F#
And to the goldsmith with my flower I'll buy your wedding ring
[Chorus 1]
G#m E
Tulip, tulip
F# G#m
With one what I did buy
G#m E
Oxen, sheep and wheat and rye
G#m F# G#m
Land on the north seaside
G#m E
Tulip, tulip
F# B
With one what I did buy
G#m E
The finest dresses man can buy
G#m F# G#m
And a pearl for to pay my bride
[Verse 2]
G#m D#m
Then with my rarest bowl to her father's garden
C#
Like gold for lamb or wool for clam I gave that man a bowl for his daughter
G#m D#m
Ada, your heart is mine and it's mine forever
C# D#m
And she replied, "my fate that lies on yon horizon's tethered me to the sky"
[Pre-Chorus 2]
G#m E G#m F#
The match arranged, and vows exchanged and the dove flew away
G#m E G#m F#
The bells spilled out the hollow canyon on our wedding day
G#m E G#m F#
To me she gave her hand and to death do us part
G#m E G#m F#
But the bird will nest with one that she has promised her heart
[Chorus 2]
G#m E
Tulip, tulip
F# G#m
With one what I did buy
G#m E
The bed from which our sons would rise
G#m F# G#m
and the window where she cries
G#m E
Tulip, tulip
F# B
With one what I did buy
G#m E
A net to catch the birds that fly
G#m F# G#m
from the window where she cries
[Bridge 1]
G#m
He reaches out and I withdraw
E F# G#m
Spilling the flowering bribes from his paw
G#m
The broken petals climbing the walls
E F# G#m
Stealing my oxygen, no air at all
G#m
From the bed I hear him call
E F# G#m
But I answer cooing when the night falls
G#m
The cotton sword is storming the hall
E F# G#m
Cutting my vision to no sight at all
[Verse 3]
G#m B
I tied the tulip around her neck
C#
Like a red lead sinker
G#m
And blindfold and spin around
And round and round
C#
To the banks of the river and
G#m
Then walk my true love
B C#
Into the rushing water
G#m
And by her long hair, bleeding red
D#m
Hair-pulled my love there under until she drown
C# F# G#m
(vocalization)
[Pre-Chorus 3]
G#m E G#m F#
For beauty and perfume I'd stake my house and my lands
G#m E G#m F#
My love is sleeping in the river but the flower's in my hand
G#m E G#m F#
With a paler leaf and a broken petal, I'll keep her all to me
G#m E G#m F#
And to the river with my flower I'll hear my true love sing
[Bridge 2]
G#m
Your water is still in my friend
Ready to drown
G#m
Water, water oh water my kin
Carry me out
G#m
This Eine river is mercy at last
Die as she laughs for
G#m
He's waiting with a dove's nest
C#
My true love
[Chorus 3]
G#m E
Tulip, tulip
F# G#m
With one what I did buy
G#m E
A veil that parted o'er my bride
G#m F# G#m
And the blue from the bluest eye
G#m E
Tulip, tulip
F# B
With one what I did buy
G#m E
A veil that parted o'er my bride
G#m F# G#m
And the breath as my true love died
G#m E
Tulip, tulip
F# G#m
With one what I would buy
G#m E
A veil that parted o'er my bride
G#m F# G#m
And the blue from the bluest eye
G#m E
Tulip, tulip
F# B
With one what I did buy
G#m E
A veil that parted o'er my bride
G#m F# G#m E F#
And the breath as my true loooooooooooooove
G#m
Died