F G C
F G C
F G C F C E7 Am
E7 Am E7 Am
F G C

[Verse 1]
F        G           C
I take a walk on the Seine
           F            G            C
Cross Pont Neuf on my way to St. Germain
               F           G           C
Love-hearts on padlocks on wire in the mist
      F            C
Where young lovers kiss
     E7         Am
And swear to be true
          E7           Am        E7
Echoes of ten thousand sighs of love
        Am
And yet I
     F        G          C
Feel only the absence of you

[Verse 2]
         F             G         C
Out of a window on the thirtieth floor
              F              G         C
Central Park shines with the coming of dawn
                      F        G          C
Through eyes rendered weary by jetlag and wine
  F             C
I turn round to find
          E7         Am
There’s a girl in my room
      E7        Am
For a moment we kiss
        E7           Am
But her vodka-soaked lips
      F           G          C
Taste only of the absence of you

[Chorus]
C       Am
I don’t know
                 Em*
What all of this means
               F
If you are not here with me
    C    Am
And I am lost
             Em
When we are apart

There’s a hole in my heart
                  F
That light passes through
        F
And the pattern it creates

Is the shape of
               C
The absence of you

[Verse 3]
                 F            G          C
Spring has been found hanging round Soho Square
              F         G         C
So I take my coffee and newspaper there
               F           G         C
To bask in the not-warm-enough April sun
          F          C
With the workers who come
       E7           Am
To eat Pret with no shoes
        E7           Am
But the grass to the side
       E7               Am
Of the patch where I’m lying
   F              G         C
Is flat with the absence of you

[Chorus 2]
C       Am
I don’t know
                 Em
What all this is for
               F
If you are not near to me
    C       Am
And I can’t sleep
            Em
Sleep is no fun when the unruly sun
                F
Will reveal the truth
   F
A space in my bed as cold as the dead

Exactly the size and the shape of
               C
The absence of you

[Ending]
    Am            Em
And all of this beauty

Runs over and through me
        F
And pools round my shoes

And the puddle it forms

Conforms to the shape of
               C
The absence of you