Intro Dm

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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.