Year: 1997 - Album: This Strange Engine
Written by John Helmer/Steve Hogarth/Mark Kelly/Ian Mosley/Steve Rothery/Pete Trewavas
Dm F Dm F
There was a boy who came into this world at the hands of a holy woman in a holy place
Dm F Dm F
He wore a red coat and walked a bulldog, saw them reflected in the mirror of the lakes
Dm F
Lived in the shadow of the mountains with the smells of disinfectant
Dm F
Dusty old leather and the polished wood of his bed
Dm F
No more than a baby feeding swans on the river, holding the hands of his mother
C G F C G
And the wax paper bag of yesterday's bread
F C G F
And his father on the other side of the world on the ship's railings and some far away tide
C G F C
With the silent dry tear of home thoughts from abroad in his far away eyes
G F (NC) F Cm Eb Bb
In his far away eyes
F Cm Eb Bb
The smell of the wax on the wooden floor, mixture of polish and soap
F Cm Eb Bb
No children to fear or to play with, rows of empty hooks for the coats
F Cm Eb Bb
An upright piano and the boys in the choir still remind him of just before he was born
F Cm Eb Bb
Remind him of just before he was breathing, strange misty visions of God
F Cm Eb Bb
Turn the cities into families, into villages of souls
F Cm Eb Bb
Hovering in the air while they're sleeping, with their houses invisible
F Cm Eb (NC)
Send to me the ghosts of Christmas, whispering, "You're the only one"
1 1 1
And ever since I was a boy, I never felt that I belonged
1 1
Like everything they did to me was an experiment to see
1 1
How I would cope with the illusion, in which direction would I jump
1 1
Would I do it all the same as the actors in the game
Bb F
Or would I spit it back at them and not get caught up in their rules
Bb F
And live according to my own and not be used, not be used
Eb Bb
To find the fundamental truths, it was gonna take some time
Ab F#
Thirty-five summers down the line, the wisdom of each passing year
Ab F
Seems to serve only to confuse, seems to serve only to confuse
Eb Bb Fm F#maj7 Ab F Eb Bb Ab F#maj7 Ab 1 1 1 1 1 1 Fm Eb Bb Fm F#maj7 Ab
(NC) F#maj7 Ab Gm Cm Dm F
Gm Cm Dm F
Daddycame out of the navy and took us away to his dirty grey home town
Gm Cm Dm F
And he worked down a coal mine for National Service so that he could be around
Gm Cm Dm F Gm Cm Dm F
There was a magical purple in the chrome of the exhaust of his Triumph motor bike
Gm Cm Dm F Gm Cm Dm
And a warmth of oil and metal and the thrill of the hard corner holding tight
Gm Cm Dm F
From the horizon came home from the Navy to the mine
Gm Cm Dm F
From the horizon to buried alive
Gm Cm Dm
Took his dream underground
F Gm Cm Dm F
Buried his treasure in his faraway eyes
Dm C F G Dm C F G
And one day as the boy lay sleeping in the sunshine of a half-remembered afternoon
Dm C F G
A cloud of bees with no particular aim and no brain found the boy
Dm C F G
Decided that his time had come
Dm C F G Dm
Came down out of the sky, stung him in the face again and again
C F G
Blue pain, screaming like baptism, intravenous, Jesus
Dm C F G
Like being chosen from something with no brain, blue pain
Dm C F G Dm C F G Dm C F G Dm C F G Dm C F G
It's happening again, it's happening again
Am Dm Em G Am Dm Em G Am Dm Em G Dm Am G F Am F Am Em C D Em C D
Em C D
Oh, Mummy, Daddy, will you sit a while with me?
Em C D
Oh, Mummy, Daddy, will you jog my memory?
Em C D
Tell me tall tales of Montego Bay, Table Mountain, flying fish
Em C D Em C D
Banana spiders, pots of paint and the sun on the Equator
Em C D
Setting like an ember thrown to deep water
Em C D
From crimson to black
Em C D
But coming back tomorrow
Em D Em D Em D Cmaj7 D Em D Em D Em D Cmaj7 D
On the horizon
Em D Em D Em D Cmaj7 D Em D Em D Em D Cmaj7 D
Em C D Em C D
The blue pain fades to a point where it doesn't fade
Em C D Em C D
It stayed blue
Em C D Em C D
And stirred his red coat heart to this strange engine
Em C D E A G D
This love, this love, this love
E A G D
This inconvenient, blind blood-diamond, this puzzle
E A G D E
This love, this blind blood-diamond, this puzzle, I don't understand
A G D E A G
That knows no faith and tries and fails and tries again
D E A G D E
Stares at the sea, the night's dark deep for one last time
A G D E
And bleeds and bleeds and dies for you
A G D E A
And lies and is to blame and is ashamed
G D E
And is not the same and is true
A G D E A G D E
Is true, is true, is true, is true, is true, is true, is true, is true
Full
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Half
key step up
Half
key step down
Full
key step down
