Mississippi Swells

    E
Mississippi swells I know
    E
Ever-drawing line to another time
                   F#m
To the sirens of Chicago
             B
Or Memphis' eerie glow
      E
Not quite cause you're chosen so
      E
But in drains we draw in to drown
                                                  F#m
It's such a small town so your instincts made you go
                           B
And you reflect on things you now know
      E                                G#m
Like how Cindy said "it all seems the same"
               F#m
Embedded in patterns you don't notice
      B
The future's out of focus
         E
It's a shame
                   G#m                            A
The flashlight just falls in the direction you're headed


[Verse 2]
 E                                   G#m
But you just knew there's nothing to gain
               F#m                           B
No measure of light among the sightless, immobilized and righteous
        E
It was pain
                    G#m                        A
So you pointed your beam in the direction of anywhere


[Chorus]
            C#m                          A
And though urbanity was not without its flaws
                         B
You found the time and space you'd need to sharpen your claws
                               A                                        E
And hone your eyesight on the skeletons upon which all your little interactions carry on
                           F#m
Those that are visible and not
   F#m
Metaphysical and hot
                 B
The anatomy of everything


[Verse 3]
           E
So when I got to your city, it was summer
                      F#m
It was pretty and we walked around because we had the time
      B
You remarked on all the places that you hadn't seen in ages
       E
Disconnected from the metro city lines
             F#m
And on the closed doors of the fire stations
 B
Testament to forced displacement
   E              G#m              A
Shocked me so to see it from the ground
                   E             B                    A
What seemed so functional from great heights looking down


[Chorus]
     C#m                   A
But cities observed from planes
                      B
At some point, so deceptively, all start to look the same
                            A
You get distracted by the light below the clouds
                                   E
It seems to shine on through the night, you know
                                   F#m
And how it seems so lit up to some line
            F#m
Feel the brightness so confined
                   B
Only skyscrapers shine
                           A
The tallest buildings do define


[Trumpet Solo]
E G#m A B E G#m A (x2)
E F#m B


[Verse 4]
 E
In letters now you wonder
 E
The lights you're living under
          F#m
And the vantage points you've yet to even come upon
      B
You dream of transportation, infrastructure, the bus stations
         E
On the blocks between the shops the lights flicker on and off and on
          F#m                    B
And my imagination too travels those streets
              E              F#m           A
Thinking of places and the people that we meet
         E                 B              A
And conversations with strangers on bus seats


[Chorus]
      C#m                  A
Like you and Arthur on the 28
    B
The 45 fading from sight of the day
                    A
Saying "Oh it is magical and cold
                               E
The place where cities and starscapes collide"
    A                                       E
I think of the people alive and awake on Magnolia's steep side
F#m                                                       B                 A     E
The living room lamps and the headlights of cars are like fireflies in the night sky