Explained Away

C

[Verse 1]
C
Someone told a story about a man 
who'd lived through Hell
                Dm                 
And stumbled, orphaned, to his 
               F              G
home, to find the servants living 
well
             C                
And how they welcomed him like 
                C
family as they plotted out some deed
   Dm                              
To kill him in his sleep and stay 
  F             G
to satisfy their greed
             F               Ab   
I thought of who it is whose story
        C
 gets remembered in the end
                Dm          
And through how many careful 
                   F            
tellings does one practice their 
    G
defense
     F             Ab   
Some nuances the narrator 
    C
selectively omits
   Dm                       
Or ones collective memory is 
 F              G
destined to forget

[Chorus]
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                F                  
Yeah, we make decisions that 
                         C
account for the worlds that we live 
in
             F                     
We make explanations that amount to
               C
 the ones we envision
   F                            C
It isn't just the horror of the way 
he killed those kids
        Dm                   
But the way the tale was told 
            F               G
explained away the deed he did
              F         Ab    
You know that everybody needs a 
           C
place to live

[Verse 2]
              C             
You show your willfulness to 
                    C
ignorance with the council that you 
give
         Dm                    F  
The testimonial performances belie
                 G
 the lies you've lived
        C                         
Another actor on the podium feels 
C
slighted by the way
      Dm                        
And abstractions been amended on 
      F              G
some broken, bygone days
               F            
Yeah but these politics have 
 Ab                C
victims, they get stuck there in the
 space
            Dm                     
Between the weight of great ideals 
        F               G
and the narratives they shape
          F                 
It wasn't you there with the 
 Ab                C
handgun, but your fax machine and 
pen
     Dm                         
Your personal computer, and your 
 F        G
business acumen

[Chorus]
            F                 
Appeal to a notion that we all 
                     C
deserve what we can reach for
          F
That what sits in your sight is a 
God-given right, yes
   C                              
In spite of the slights you can't 
G
speak for
     F                             
Sees fairness as a function of the 
C
rules that you can't bend
      Dm                          
Takes action over nothing but the 
F             G
naked will to win