From A Cutlass Cruiser

C


[Verse]
F                   C            
What a day we had… I figured I’d 
                   Dm             
be feeling bad, but I don’t feel a 
Bb
thing.
              Dm            Bb    
They read from Mark and then bring
          C
 us all up Shingle Camp Hill Road.
F                      C         
Throwing flowers at the ground 
                       Dm          
felt like hours, with the grown-ups
      Bb
 whimpering.
      Dm                 Bb       
In the blown-out green of spring I
        Eb                  Bb
 see the whole small town explode.


[Chorus]
C                              
And then driving to our house at 
night, the stars shoot out their 
 Bb                Dm      Bb
shine behind the Olds windows.
         Dm               Bb      
My father quiet behind the wheel, 
       Dm                 Bb   
I fully feel that he knows where 
                C
he’s trying to go.
C                                 
And then they carry me inside, 
                       Bb       
this other world behind my eyes, 
             Dm   Bb
this bright-lit neon glow.
             Dm            Bb     
And then it’s morning everywhere, 
          Dm                   
and summer air, and there’s the 
Bb    C
stereo.


[Interlude]
Eb Bb


Continues after the ad
[Verse]
F                        C       
The Electric Company was playing 
                    Dm             
when my mom left me five minutes on
     Bb
 the couch,
          Dm                 Bb   
and I was blue when she came out, 
           C
and wasn't breathing.
F                            C   
That Opel flew through town, all 
                         Dm     
down 120, and around the Lebanon 
            Bb
green, and out.
             Dm                    
I don't know what they were 
  Bb                  Eb      
thinking about. I don't want to 
   Bb
imagine it.


[Chorus]
C                                 
In came the doctor, wearing white.
                     Bb     Dm    
 Carefully, he cut a circle in my 
Bb
throat
           Dm             Bb      
and took a little plastic tube and
           Dm                  
 looped it through my lungs and 
 Bb        C
sealed me closed.
C                             
My parents were called into the 
                             Bb  
room, with no idea what to do but 
              Dm     Bb
frightened to say so.
                 Dm              
They showed them how to clean it 
Bb                   Dm           
out, and showed them how to set me
 Bb               C
 down, and sent me home.


[Verse]
F          C                     
1983 - the apparition came to me 
    Bb         Dm   Bb
and spoke to me all night,
       Dm             Bb          
frozen inside my bed, bone-white, 
           C
my brother fast asleep.
F                     C          
And, under surgery, a second time
                         Bb       
 it came and showed me a house in 
Dm    Bb
outer space,
        Dm             Bb         
another boy who had my face, a mom
     Dm                  Bb
 and dad who weren't the same...
                 Eb            
I woke up and my aunt gave me a 
 Bb
book.


[Chorus]
C                                 
Show me the neatest place to hide,
                            Bb  
 to crawl inside the silver gym. 
              Dm           Bb
Don't tell a single other soul.
            Dm             Bb     
Beneath the bleachers is a 
        Dm             Bb         
lighter, and a sneaker, and a frozen
C
 sparrow.
C                                 
I broke into the church at night 
                      Bb        
and pulled out all the stops and 
           Dm        Bb
heard that organ overload,
    Dm                           
and  screamed, This giant clashy 
Bb               Dm               
chord is for Our Lord. Up where he
 Bb              C
 is. Up Where he goes.


[Other]
C            Dm      Dsus4
Up that music floats,
C                          Dm
leaving family, friends and home 
down so small below.
              Bb
And it's still there for all I know.